Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

LANGUAGE

Words are all we have. ~ Samuel Beckett

When human beings try to come to terms with who they are and describe who they hope to be, the most effective medium is words. Through words we represent ourselves to ourselves; we fix our awareness of who and what we are. ~ Mark Edmundson, Why Read?, p. 135

Without [silence], communication withers. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Silence is a solvent that destroys personality, and gives us leave to be great and universal. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Intellect"

The fact remains that verbal materials is, on the whole, the handiest and most useful material in which thinking can be carried on. Abstract conceptions are far and away the most economical instruments of thought, and abstract conceptions are fixed and incarnated for us in words . . . Nothing is more deplorable than that inarticulate and helpless sort of mind that is reminded by everything of some quotation, case, or anecdote, which it cannot now exactly recollect. Nothing, on the other hand, is more convenient to its possessor, or more delightful to his comrades, than a mind able, in telling a story, to give the exact words of the dialogue or to furnish a quotation accurate and complete. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

With a few thousand nouns that can fill the subject slot and a few thousand verbs that can fill the predicate slot, one already has several million ways to open a sentence. . . . And if the number of sentences is infinite, the number of possible thoughts and intentions in infinite too, because virtually every sentence expresses a different thought or intention. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, Chapter 3

If you want to know whether you are thinking rightly, put your thoughts into words. [This] forces us to think clearly, even when it cannot make us think correctly. ~ John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address at Saint Andrews

Without knowing the language of a people, we never really know their thoughts, their feelings, and their type of character: and unless we do possess this knowledge, of some other people than ourselves, we remain, to the hour of our death, with our intellects only half expanded. ~ John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address at Saint Andrews

Speech and action are part of one and the same complex psychological function, directed toward the solution of the problem at hand. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

Sometimes speech becomes of such vital importance that, if not permitted to use it, young children cannot accomplish the given task. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

The specifically human capacity for language enables children to provide for auxiliary tools in the solution of difficult tasks, to overcome impulsive action, to plan a solution to a problem prior to its execution, and to master their own behavior. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

Signs and words serve children first and foremost as a means of social contact with other people. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

The child begins to perceive the world not only through his eyes but also through his speech. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

It is appreciated that among the essentials of clear thought are good language habits and that, except in the higher strata of philosophic discourse, tortuous obscurities of expression are more likely to be an indication of plain confusion than of stuttering profundity. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

To write interestingly may sometimes be just as important as to write soundly because getting a hearing and keeping attention may depend upon it. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

No one who has not translated prose or poetry from one language to another can appreciate both the unique richness and the unique limitations of his own language. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

The appreciation of emotions, perhaps even their recognition in certain cases, depends upon their linguistic identification. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

Knowledge of different languages, and the attempts made to communicate back and forth between them in our own minds, broaden and diversify our own feelings.They multiply points of view, and liberate us from the prejudice that words—our words—are the natural signs of things and events. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

To read great literature is to read men—their fears and motives, their needs and hopes. Every great novelist is a Menschenkenner who opens the hearts of others to us and help us to read our own hearts as well. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

The intelligent study of literature should never directly aim to strengthen morals and improve manners. For its natural consequences are a delicacy of perception and an emotional tact that are defeated by preaching and didactic teaching. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

Literature in all its forms is the great humanizing medium of life. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

What is really essential in this process is that both the teacher and the students know that open, curious questioning, whether in speaking or listening, is what grounds them mutually—not a simple passive pretense at dialogue. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

The agentive mind is not only active in nature, but it seeks out dialogue and discourse with other active minds. And it is through this dialogic, discursive process that we come to know the Other and his points of view, his stories. We learn an enormous amount not only about the world but about ourselves by discourse with Others. ~ Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education, p. 93

Truth is not everywhere the same, because language is not everywhere the same, and human existence is essentially linguistic and essentially historical. ~ Richard Rorty, Hermeneutics, General Studies, and Teaching

The limits of my language mark the limits of my world. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

Il prouva en peu de mots que ce n’était pas assez d’amener une ou deux de ces situations qu’on trouve dans tous les romans, et qui séduisent toujours les spectateurs, mais qu’il faut être neuf sans être bizarre, souvent sublime, et toujours naturel ; connaître le cœur humain et le faire parler ; être grand poète sans que jamais aucun personnage de la pièce paraisse poète ; savoir parfaitement sa langue, la parler avec pureté, avec une harmonie continue, sans que jamais la rime coûte rien au sens. «Quiconque, ajouta-t-il, n’observe pas toutes ces règles peut faire une ou deux tragédies applaudies au théâtre, mais il ne sera jamais compté au rang des bons écrivains.» (l’homme savant) ~ Voltaire, Candide

Happy is the hearing man; unhappy the speaking man. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Intellect"

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Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM