Language in Thought and Action: Fifth Edition
In this thoroughly revised, updated edition of his classic "Language in Thought and Action, " S.I. Hayakawa discusses the role of language in human life, the many functions of language, and how language - sometimes without our knowing - shapes our thinking. The author writes provocatively about the relationship between language and racial and religious prejudice; about the nature and dangers of advertising, from a linguistic point of view; and, in a completely new chapter called "The Empty Eye, " about the content, form, and hidden message of television, from situation comedies to news coverage to political advertising.
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Community Reviews
Personal Notes
-Language is the relationship between "maps" and "territory". The words used to describe certain things are supposed to accurately describe the process it refers to in a way that is relevant and important to the present situation. What you say and why you say it
-Words can have built in judgments and inferences, snarl and purr words are examples
-There is a level of abstraction for everything, a cow is a process referring to the organism (low) which is a bundle of cells (lower) that is livestock (high abstraction) that is considered a farm asset (very high). Each level of abstraction bundles it with other things, farm asset includes tractors and buildings with the cow, and its name would isolate only the particular cow (process we call cow).
-Open and close minded refers to how willing to accept or consider new ideas a person is
When hearing a speech you have 4 choices
1. Accept the speaker and the message
2. Accept the speaker and reject the message
3. Reject the Speaker and accept the message
4. Reject the speaker and the message
-Close minded people can either do 1. or 4. Open minded people are able to do any of the 4.
-Multi-Valued Orientation is the ability to not consider things as either one or the other. Two valued orientation is either something is "good" or "bad". Multi valued lets you analyze from multiple angles to gain complexity and understanding
-Intensional and Extensional Interpretation-
Intensional is being guided by the words and what we think they mean solely- Assigning words like "churchgoer" to other traits like good, kind, christian, etc. without knowing anything else about the particular "churchgoer"
-Extensional Orientation is applying it to the situation and reality
Overall don't let words and semantics twist up the "terrain" don't sell yourself or anyone else a false "map" and stick to the facts. Also, "A truth told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent."
-Language is the relationship between "maps" and "territory". The words used to describe certain things are supposed to accurately describe the process it refers to in a way that is relevant and important to the present situation. What you say and why you say it
-Words can have built in judgments and inferences, snarl and purr words are examples
-There is a level of abstraction for everything, a cow is a process referring to the organism (low) which is a bundle of cells (lower) that is livestock (high abstraction) that is considered a farm asset (very high). Each level of abstraction bundles it with other things, farm asset includes tractors and buildings with the cow, and its name would isolate only the particular cow (process we call cow).
-Open and close minded refers to how willing to accept or consider new ideas a person is
When hearing a speech you have 4 choices
1. Accept the speaker and the message
2. Accept the speaker and reject the message
3. Reject the Speaker and accept the message
4. Reject the speaker and the message
-Close minded people can either do 1. or 4. Open minded people are able to do any of the 4.
-Multi-Valued Orientation is the ability to not consider things as either one or the other. Two valued orientation is either something is "good" or "bad". Multi valued lets you analyze from multiple angles to gain complexity and understanding
-Intensional and Extensional Interpretation-
Intensional is being guided by the words and what we think they mean solely- Assigning words like "churchgoer" to other traits like good, kind, christian, etc. without knowing anything else about the particular "churchgoer"
-Extensional Orientation is applying it to the situation and reality
Overall don't let words and semantics twist up the "terrain" don't sell yourself or anyone else a false "map" and stick to the facts. Also, "A truth told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent."
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