It is generally agreed that language and the ability to create language is what separates humankind from the rest of creation. With language we have built cities, civilizations, art, and an understanding of the world around us. Words are integral to both the history of our species as well as our knowledge of it. Lacking in many natural protective adaptations, we rely on the ability to communicate information between our peers and from one generation to the next. There is no doubt that words are powerful tools, and words have destroyed enough cities, lives, and reputations to prove their potential treachery. But how does this affect the areas of knowing?
The most evident effects of language lie in the human sciences. Psychology and psychiatry rely almost entirely on the verbal input of the subject. This allows for a deeper understanding than the scannings of brainwaves or behavioral observations without motives. This is a major positive influence of words, but words can just as easily be misleading. When my parents insisted I visit a psychiatrist I felt betrayed and worried that my parents would be given access to the secret parts of my life and my sense of privacy was disturbed. My solution was, though not entirely intentional, to limit the scope of our conversations to explanations of my childhood and complaints in the present that pertained to my family. In this way my words denied the psychiatrist an understanding of what was wrong and I missed an opportunity for help. With same selective truth negatively affects the political understanding. In every totalitarian regime words were and are censored to the point that only language politically beneficial to the ruling party were released to the public. This historical tendency has been noted by many an ...