When I was younger I didn’t pay attention to matters related to language. Yet, language is so important for human thought and plays such a critical role in consciousness, awareness, comprehension, and knowledge. The prerequisite for thinking is language. In developing the CACK Model (review previous posts), I started to give serious attention to the collaborative function taking place between thinking and language. I have come to regard language as that ingredient that has made it possible to have a cognitive revolution. Language provides the foundational mechanism to explore our world. Language (words) is the bedrock for both concrete and critical thinking, thus language is the infrastructural base for all awareness, comprehension, and knowledge. All words refer to something. However, the saying of a word doesn’t make for an understanding of the “something” of a word. Thus, it is important to syndetically and hermenutically review the meaning and sub-meanings of the vocabulary we use. It is important to review the meaning and sub-meanings of vocabulary as our words are related to locution, reflection, phraseology, dialect, etc. I can easily make a case that language has remarkably become the foundation for human life. I point out that to a large degree our thinking is stuck at the level we have developed our vocabulary. Doesn’t that make it a good idea to extend our thinking through learning more words? I had certain reviewers of my writing give me advice to “lighten up” on certain vocabulary and some of the “heavier” material I present. And, although I greatly respect their suggestions, I decided to respect the reader’s intelligence more and to not dumb-down my narrative.
