The Role of Language
Can contemporary discourse presume a community of interest? In order to answer this question, one is forced to first answer the question, can language be used to reveal anything new? If the answer is yes, then how can it do this and how can we employ it to do this for us. Also, one is forced to ask what is it exactly that we are looking for? Once we've found it, how can we use it to improve our present condition? Plato and Descartes both believe that language can indeed improve our conditions through it's revelation, and both give methods to attain new knowledge. Although vastly differing, in that Descartes builds knowledge from the ground up, while Plato works from a distorted view, and seeks to clarify it, their philosophies mean the most, and have the highest practical purpose when they are employed together. By basing a Socratic argument on Descartes' pre-established truths, one can attain undoubtable new knowledge. This knowledge can, and will improve society. The reason it will do this is explainable by looking at the tendency that man has to correct himself once he knows in certitude that he has been mistaken in his actions. Any enlightened individual who has, in the past, made mistakes due t
Language, in Protagoras' view, is nothing more than a tool of power, capable of creating civilizations and controlling them, and he is partially right. According to Protagoras, man is the measure of all things. That they are that they are. That they aren't that they aren't. What he means by this is that what we say makes what is be what it is. For Protagoras, to bring something into words is to bring it into being. He brings forth the point that were it not for language, a civilization would not be possible. Had humans lacked the skills necessary for interpersonal communication, each man would live like animals, barely able to provide for himself all the necessities for survival. According to Thomas Hobbes, language is used, to describe the world, but also to convey attitudes, as well as make promises and contracts. When humans come together in large groups, contracts and laws must be made to maintain the well being of the population. The making of contracts is simply to ensure that each citizen in the state uphold their promise to contribute, in a meaningful way, to the provision of the needs of the state as a fully integrated whole. It is easy for us to think of an idealistic, self-providing utopia, where everyone is trusting and trustworthy. Human nature, however, is animal like and we as humans cannot function together in a society with a great number of people, because, as we know from our own past experience, man has been known to be deceitful, untrustworthy, malicious, benevolent, and sometimes violent. This being the case, lawmakers and law-enforcers must be put into place to uphold the laws and contracts, thereby upholding the ideals and well being of the fully integrated community. Of course, Plato and Socrates both knew this, as is evident in the Republic when Plato establishes a separation of state based on those who make, enforce and obey the laws. In fact, Socrates and Plato shared the view that it was this separation of things that enabled them to exist at all. Any object or thing in general is made up of parts. In order for an object to exist, its separate parts must function individually, while at the same time, contributing to the whole by providing for some of the needs of the other individual parts. Similarly, if the individuals in a state did not distinguish themselves from the other individuals, then, not only would those people cease to be productive members of the community, but the state would also weaken as a result. For example, take a farmer who has decided to take on the duties of a lawmaker. While occupying these two occupations, he may be forced to make choices in which the only two options available to him are beneficial to only one of his professions and detrimental to the other, like the taxing of produce exports. When one is forced to choose between two choices, both of which harm him in some way, he is essentially destroying himself. Another example is the separate parts of a chair. If the legs, back and seat of a chair were not separately maintaining their individuality, they would no longer be contributing to the chairness of the chair and it would, therefore, cease to be. Plato believes that the state, just as anything, can only be known, that is, its function or purpose can only be known so long as we understand the commonality of its parts. To clarify, if we are to know the goals of a state, we must understand what each element of the state share in common. Just like if we are to understand what justice is, we must understand what it is that all just acts have in common. To repeat myself, Socrates believes that the only way to do this is in proper language use via the Socratic method. In the case of the Republic, however, Socrates never does learn the true definition of justice, and this only strengthens his view that there is something, which we cannot see, which will, upon realization, illuminate the true definition of things. Language
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Approximate Word count = 2657
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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