15.5. The Interaction of Words, Ideas, and 'Reality'

This section focuses on the five areas mentioned in the title: language (words), semantics (meaning), ideas, reality, and epistemology (knowledge) -- and how they all link 'dialectically' and 'wholistically' together.

First up is a short discussion on language. Then we will move quickly into a discussion of semantics -- the relationship of language (or more specifically words) to meaning. From a more complicated brief discussion of meaning, we will then move into a discussion of 'epistemology' -- the study of knowledge. Let's start with the philosophy of language. That is bascially the agenda or menu for this floor of Hegel's Hotel.


First up -- a very brief discussion of language. How many different types of words are there in the English language? Nouns. Verbs. Adjectives. Adverbs. Pronouns. Conjunctions. Prepositions. Introjections. Eight different types of words. Unless I've forgotten one, that is about it.

What are there functions? Nouns. Nouns describe 'structure' in the world -- things that have substance and body, take up space, and don't move very fast -- althouth speed is relative and even things that have 'structure' in the world still move at a /slow, or even a fast pace. A 'cheetah' is the fastest mammal on earth but 'cheetah' is still a noun because a cheetah is considered to have 'structure' and 'substance'. Even 'river' is a noun because it too is considered to have 'structure' and 'substance'. When we start to talk more specifically about 'running' and 'moving' and 'flowing', then we have moved out of the world of 'structure' and now we are talking about the world of 'process' -- verbs describe 'processes' (motion and movement).

Adjectives describe nouns (beautiful girl). Pronouns take the place of nouns (him, her, he, she, it...). Adverbs describe verbs (pretty fast). Conjunctions join nouns or verbs or adjectives or adverbs or clauses together in a sentence (Paul and Sally, fast and slow, faster and faster, He went home and then he went to his bedroom...) You have to excuse me here if I am missing anything. I am going back to my Grade 6 grammar classes and I haven't pulled out a grammar book yet to see if I am missing anything which I'm sure I am because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of exceptions in the English language. So -- I am speaking in generalities here, and I am trying to move fairly quickly here without getting bogged down in exceptions.

Prepositions describe 'relationships' (in, out, of, above, under...). Introjections describe emotions, sounds... (Heh!!, 'Whoosh!!).

So there you have it. That is the English language -- grammatically -- in two or three paragraphs.

Now we come to the subject of 'semantics' or 'meaning'. This gets much, much trickier.

People who believe in the 'one word, one meaning fallacy' are going to get blown away and left behind by the English language. It doesn't matter how many dictionaries you read -- from front to back cover -- you will never completely learn or comprehend the full nature, the intricisies, and the dynamics of the English language if you try to learn the English language from a dictionary. Indeed, this goes for every language -- if you want to learn Parisian French, you have to go to Paris, if you want to learn Quebecois French, you have to go to Quebec. If you want to learn English English, you have to go to England. If you want to learn Canadian English, you have to go to Canada. If you want to learn American English, you have to go to America.

So this brings into focuse the ideas of 'dialect', 'context', and 'function'. Languages for the most part are learned in homes, and on the street, in front of tvs, and in schools, and in places of business. I never learned French properly -- or even adequately -- from a 'French to English translation dictionary'. It just doesn't cut it when someone starts speaking French at you -- and expects you to answer them, no different than trying to learn how to drive a car would work from studying a book and without stepping into a car. You may be able to partly learn a language from studying a dictionary, more so by actually trying to read a book (and maybe flipping back and forth between the book and the dictionary.) But more so, if you want to learn a language, you need to actually 'drop yourself' in the centre of the country or the region where you want to learn the language. And start to pick it up just like any 2 year old kid would (although he or she would have a significant advantage over you in the infinite learning flexibility that kids have at that time of their lives which you or I no longer have. Plus the two year old would not have to 'unlearn' some of the different things that you and I would probably have to 'unlearn' in order to 'learn' a different language).