Where We Start, Where We End Up

Locke, Lakeoff & Johnson, and Derrida faced off in our class and their ideas and works were put face to face. This post will examine one question from the face-off and delve into the origins of their ideas. All authors claim that the idea came first and the word came after. Where they take it, is inherently different.

Discussing the three authors above in a face-off was a great way to see where each stand on several subjects. Regarding the "chicken and the egg," each author seems to be on the same page in that an idea comes first and then the word. However, Locke suggests that words can influence ideas; which would lead some to believe that more ideas now than most would be the spawn of words. What does this mean? Basically, ideas did come first, then there is an assignment to words. Take Locke's sign, which is just a word attached to an idea. The history of the world is long, and we in this day and age have reviewed history and learned from it. Are we the learning from the words or the ideas within them? Obviously, since the idea came first, we would assume the idea; but maybe that is not exactly the case. 

Differance and Derrida's claims show that language is fluid, and is ever-changing. This idea can be supported in that Old English is not the same way we talk anymore. Moreover, there are many languages and cultures that exist and that have risen and fallen and dialects have spawned. Where is the vehicle for learning from it? In the words or in the ideas in which they represent? Our language is based around Latin (for the most part). How does one articulate what ideas the terms represent. There is an evolution of language that has occurred over the history of the world. We look at base terms from Latin, jump to middle ages, and the renaissance, all the way to today and see where we have assigned our own interpretations and significations. 

"Metaphor is for most people device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish--a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language" (1). We use metaphors as a way to combine ideas and to interpret which ones are brought together. One could argue that throughout time that there have been countless ideas that have been brought to fruition by combining ideas and assigning a "sign" to them. Then this process repeats itself, and will always repeat itself forever. 

Regarding words and ideas... these three authors may all be correct at the same time in relation to their overall ideologies. Language has changed, meaning fluid, we combine ideas, and assign words to create a meaning from our mind and inherently inspires us.