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By listening, speaking, seeing and reflecting on words made by the alphabets of a language - one experiences the World. How far is this correct? Can any one experience the World without a language? if yes to what extent, if no, why not?

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Babies experience the world without a language. Also see this thread on Skeptics. – ChaosAndOrder Feb 13 at 17:07
Thats correct !! that experience is not sharable unless they learn a language alphabet to express ! It will be interesting to explore more on the bias that Language introduces to the babies to share their experience on one hand - as per the codes/rules/structures learnt for a language , and on the other hand even that experience sharing would not have been possible without language tools. So the True experience of Babies' enters into a bias with the language and becomes unsharable without a language – Charan Singh Feb 13 at 20:29
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Heidegger's lecture series, 'The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics', is a thorough examination of the man vs. animal relation to the world, which to me seems very relevant to the question. For a shorter (and more crude) overview, Agamben's 'The Open' is also rather interesting. – Dzmitry Tsapkou Feb 14 at 1:15
@Dzmitry - Thanks a lot, I will greatly appreciate more inputs on what current research directs one to, in terms of USING the tools of a language (any of the known languages) evolved / developed experiencing what was before the origin of a language or what world is experienceable without the language, what is that connects the before-in-between(link/connection/that transforms)-with the tools of a language and then sharing that experience using these known tools of a language. – Charan Singh Feb 14 at 12:26

2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote

Good question, sorry for bad English! I can't answer by all means but here are two points.

  • It is well known that children, that grow up without a language,
    get a fatal lack of human consciousness.

  • Buddhists assert that adult human beigns may (and should) spend a long time without
    words and estimations and this even improve their minds.
    I practise Vipassana more than 15 years (being high-educated in theoretical physics)
    and just confirm it.

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point 1 - it seems to some extent the children/ or we as human get their/our consciousness eclipsed with the language tools and same tools - we need to experience the world also. Certainly !! agree on point 2 – Charan Singh Feb 13 at 20:32
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How else would you experience the world? Is the color red itself the same as the word 'red'?

Of course we use words to describe our experience to others.

One could examine the world out there as logos by Christianity, a system of signs by semiotics in European philosohy as inspired by linguistics or information as modern physics - but this is language of an entirely different order and amongst themselves are not commensurate. In this sense no-one escapes language in their structuring of experience.

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Thanks, if not with a language how would one experience the world !! Exactly ! Now let's go a step further, having learnt the language - can it help narrating, recalling the experience Patricia Kuhl(TedTalks)refers Neuroscience may term as Rocket Science or romantic poets term it as -Celestial Openness of Child's mind before formally learning a langauge. Having the tools of a Language can one experience the world that was before the language was learn, if so, how? So What that LANGUAGE would be, as I agree with you again, "no-one escapes language in ..";Much appreciated. – Charan Singh Feb 14 at 19:49

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