The Relationship Between Language and Thinking - Coursework Example

Language less Thinking s 24th February Language less Thinking For centuries, language has become deeply embedded in every aspect of ways in which we interact with the world around us. It would be very tricky to imagine our world without language, it would mean that we would not have names for items and we would lack experience making statements. We would not be able to talk about things that have not occurred and even ask questions. To answer this question properly, we must state what we mean by the word thought.

If a thought means experiencing impressions, feelings and sensations without language, then it is possible to think. The only difference is that we would fail to possess the concepts of feelings, impressions, experiences and sensations. For instance, we would experience pain but we would fail to possess the concept of pain.Language less thinking has been used by many scientists and artists who claim that they do not use words in their inner processes during work, but images. Temple Grandin, an autistic author, explains that she thinks visually not linguistically.

Her concepts are a collection of images; many people who lack language ability can think this way. Deaf people who are cut off from spoken or sign language can think in sophisticated ways prior to being exposed to a language. Later when they learn a language, they can describe their experiences and prove that they had thought. A fifteen-year-old boy in 1836 remembered his pre-language thoughts after going through deaf school. He describes his thoughts about the moon and thinking that it would strike him, he also thought about his parents.

Deaf people can spontaneously come up with sign language with no language models. ConclusionPeople can think without language, but a language enables certain kinds of thinking. Language provides us with symbols, to offer reflections and carry out observations. Language allows abstract reasoning.ReferencesOkrent, A. (2013). Is It Possible To Think Without Language? Mental Floss. Retrieved 24 February 2015, from http://mentalfloss.com/article/50684/it-possible-think-without-language