The Limits of Language?
“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein
The common notion is that language is a means of communication; it enables us to retrieve and convey information of the world. The special ability of language seems to be what sets humans apart from other animals.
While other animals are able to communicate and elucidate certain responses and behaviours no such example has been able to match that of a human’s ability. Animal communication comes in many forms such as the auditory cues of songbirds, the facial expressions of a chimpanzee, to the pheromones of an ant colony.
All these serve particular purposes and attempt to bring about certain behaviours. Songbirds sing to attract potential mates. Chimpanzees demonstrate a playful face to indicate that they want to play with other chimpanzee members in their group, and pheromones allow an ant colony to forage for food and bring it back to its nest.
On the other hand, humans are able to convey a variety of purposes and are able to symbolise elements of the world with words and language. This symbolism is brought upon by signs; Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist, believed that language consisted of a signifier (symbol) and a signified (concept).
Thus the word “tree” symbolises the actual object in reality that is the tree, and in this symbol there consists the signifier: how the word is phrased or spoken which is different across various languages and the actual concept (signified) which represents the idea of a tree is.
In Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein put forth a treatise on the exploration of the limits of language and thought. In this he developed his picture theory of language which stated that language paints a picture of reality. Propositions then represent reality in a certain way and this can either be true or false; for example the proposition that “there is a dog in the garden” is true if in fact there actually is a dog in the garden and is false if it is not the case.
“A picture agrees with reality or fails to agree; it is correct or incorrect, true or false. In order to tell whether a picture is true or false we must compare it with reality.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein
Language is built on propositions. Reality contains facts. Propositions symbolise these facts and if they contain no truth or falsity, then they are meaningless. Wittgenstein believed that nothing correct can be said in philosophy. Philosophical propositions do not picture or coincide with reality.
This is especially true in ethics, a statement such as ‘Thou shall not kill’ is a statement entirely out of the confines of language, this is the limit of language it is simply incapable of delineating whether this statement is true or false. Philosophy is not one of the natural sciences it does not grapple with facts of reality, rather Wittgenstein believed that the role of Philosophy is the logical clarification of thought.
“Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein
By looking at the use of language in deeper level, one is able to discern that language is a set of propositions about reality. Language is essentially a model of reality, and all models are wrong; as models are abstractions and simplifications of reality. The true limit of language then is that one is never able to obtain absolute truth through the use of language.
Despite this, one still needs to approximate closer and closer to the truth through probabilistic truth. The representations of language are inherently wrong but it is very useful, it enables humans to convey propositions of the world and gain a deeper understanding and interaction with reality. This ability enables us to gain insight into the nature of consciousness and the human condition, an experience that is uniquely human.
“All models are wrong, but some are useful.” — George Box
