The title of this post is intended to be a play on the old philosophical question, Which came first - the chicken or the egg? CLICK HERE to go to the New York Times article, "When language can hold the answer," discussing research findings on the role language may play in sense perception, including things as basic as recognizing colors. Use the article as a prompt to reflect on the relationship between these two Ways of Knowing.
Additional writings about this subject can be found at:
"Hues & Views: A cross-cultural study reveals how language shapes color perception"
"Do our languages shape the nuts and bolts of perception, the very way we see the world?" (Scroll down to the second response/entry on this page. Interestingly, this statement was made by Professor Boroditsky in response to the very TOK-ish question, "What have you changed your mind about?"
"Reframing: How language shapes perception" (this "article" is really a blog posting, and the blogger has an
interesting background/perspective that is worth thinking and reflecting about)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I believe that perception came first, where man came to understand the world around him, and as he began to understand it he created a language to accompany it. This language is now used to help future generations aquire the perception that the first men and women had. So what I'm saying is first perception, then language, then perception.
I agree with Rcaso. i believe that perception definitely comes before language. and i do agree that language came after just to accompany it. they argue in this article that with out language how we would know blue or green, well just because we don't know the words for it we still know that they are different colors we can still perceive them as different colors. we need to be able to perceive the world before we can define it.
Post a Comment