Classical literature; Knowledge, Theory of -- Early works to 1800
(3) Hence it is important that we should conceive of the mind in the
noblest and simplest manner. While acknowledging that language has been
the greatest factor in the formation of human thought, we must endeavour
to get rid of the disguises, oppositions, contradictions, which
arise out of it. We must disengage ourselves from the ideas which the
customary use of words has implanted in us. To avoid error as much as
possible when we are speaking of things unseen, the principal terms
which we use should be few, and we should not allow ourselves to be
enslaved by them. Instead of seeking to frame a technical language,
we should vary our forms of speech, lest they should degenerate into
formulas. A difficult philosophical problem is better understood when
translated into the vernacular.
I.a. Psychology is inseparable from language, and early language
contains the first impressions or the oldest experience of man
respecting himself. These impressions are not accurate representations
of the truth; they are the reflections of a rudimentary age of
philosophy. The first and simplest forms of thought are rooted so deep
in human nature that they can never be got rid of; but they have been
perpetually enlarged and elevated, and the use of many words has been
transferred from the body to the mind. The spiritual and intellectual
have thus become separated from the material--there is a cleft between
them; and the heart and the conscience of man rise above the dominion
of the appetites and create a new language in which they too find
expression. As the differences of actions begin to be perceived, more
and more names are needed. This is the first analysis of the human mind;
having a general foundation in popular experience, it is moulded to
a certain extent by hierophants and philosophers. (See Introd. to
Cratylus.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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