Wittgenstein had a saying about “die Grenzen meiner Sprache”, namely that these correspond to “die Grenzen meiner Welt”. [1]
In my not-so humble opinion, this quote misses something very fundamental about language: that it does not exist in any “particular individual” (see also the previous post, “Self Mythology“). Language is a technology that exists between / among (groups of) individuals. Since “the word” (and language) play(s) such an integral part in the Bible, I also assume there is this element in Jesus’ saying about “whenever two (or more) of you gather in My name”.
Similar to the way I mentioned (in the previous post) that languages seem to force us to segregate ourselves from the rest of the world, when I use the word “technology”, it seems to imply “invented by humans“. Hence, I am really quite “on the fence” about whether I should refer to language as a technology or as a natural phenomenon. Yet I am also open to entertaining ideas such as genetic information being expressed in a language, and even referring to such natural phenomena as technologies — quasi invented by evolution.
Wittgenstein also had another quote about the world being whatever is “the case” (or actually true, or something like that) — sort of indicating that it’s actually not possible to consider something which doesn’t fit into the molds our languages have prepared for us … e.g. it is only possible to think of a “unicorn” if we already have such concepts as “horse” and “horn” at the ready.
In the heyday of Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana, I had a different album playing virtually nonstop on replay: Peter Gabriel’s “Us” — and the title of this post is from a recurring line in the song “Only Us” … . What if there were no “them”? Mr. Gabriel apparently couldn’t avoid referencing the self, or an opposite “you” … and still there lingers this notion of a universal “us”, which is also alluded to in Wittgenstein’s universal world-is-whatever-is-the-case.
Whatever. Never mind. 😀
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