Shaping the Way We Think
Friday, May 27th, 2011I’ve been pondering this lately. According to the Whorfian Pinciple, our language both shapes and limits the way we think.
Note: No, this is not a StarTreq reference. Benjamin Whorf was the researcher who is best known for his role in formulating the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Now, Sapir seems to have dropped off the map, and the hypothesis has become a principle (not a law, yet, but a principle has enough supporting research to demonstrate its validity).
Whorf is best known, these days, for the concept that in cultures where there are only three number words (1, 2, many), native speakers have difficulty recognizing the differences between various sizes of many.
I’ve been thinking this through (as best I can, given the limits of our vocabulary), and it strikes me that the idea of discipleship and Biblical worldview play into this concept quite directly.
We live in a society where we literally soak in our cultural language. We tend not to soak so much in Biblical language. No wonder, then, that Christians (or anyone, for that matter) think more like the world, and far less like God.
I’m still processing on this, but I’m weighing the idea of a “verbal detox,” and seeking to soak in a more Biblical language. I don’t know for sure what that might look like, but I’ll keep you informed as I go forward on this.