Words Matter
Dear Reader,
‘Define your terms.’ From the time of the ancient Greek philosophers some 2500 years ago it has been the agreed pre-requisite of logic and reason. Logic and reason are essential tools for the discernment of truth and truth is the foundation stone of all that is permanent. Without truth we build our lives on shifting sands. The French thinker Voltaire (1694 – 1778) put it even more clearly, ‘if you wish to converse with me, define your terms.’ Before discussion can be undertaken the meaning of words has to be agreed, we both need to agree what a spade is, how a spade is defined, before we can call a spade, a spade. We cannot compare like with like if you think an apple is green, yellow or red and I think it is orange and with segmented flesh. Without defining our terms we cannot call a spade a spade and we would end up comparing apples with oranges. Words matter for words carry meaning. More than that, words matter because they are the matrix for our understanding of the world, they are the structure of how we think. Unless we understand the words we think and say we cannot reflect upon them or our understanding of the world. Without defining our terms and understanding our words, our minds, our reason and our very lives become unconscious slaves to the words we use.
Language changes naturally. It develops as new words are created, or are imported from other languages, to define new things. No language is better at importing words than English, everything from pyjama and verandah to robot and biro were once novel imports. Language also changes by evolution, a word that once held one meaning slowly becomes attached to another concept. For example, a computer was once a person employed to perform complex arithmetic, from there it came to be used of a calculating machine and now it is the ubiquitous digital box that performs tasks undreamed of by previous generations.
Words also change as the vehicle of new ideas, and as the ideas develop so the meaning of the words can shift. This can be adaptive and evolutionary or it can be deliberate and revolutionary We see a lot of this in our current society, here are a few examples:
Racism: this was once used as a short-hand for the theory of racial superiority, that one strand of humanity was inherently and genetically superior to another. Now it is a term applied to any situation where a racial group is deemed to be at a disadvantage to another racially defined group. The situation is deemed racist in and of itself and those who are unconcerned with the status quo are therefore by definition racists. The word no longer describes an intent or an attitude but is applied to an outcome. The same shift in meaning can also be attached to the word sexist.
Woman: once applied exclusively to describe an adult female many people are arguing that the meaning of the word should be expanded to include males who feel themselves to be women. For these people the meaning of the word is not rooted in any objective position but in the subjective opinion of the individual. Similarly the word man could be used of a female who considers herself to have the psychological and emotional characteristics of a male, who feels herself to be manlike. The end result of this is the stripping of the original meaning from the word itself and the consequent diminution of language. Rather than be content creating a new word or term for individuals who feel this way, campaigners insist upon this new definition of the word. If this new meaning is widely adopted the word woman will become divorced from any root in biology and a whole new understanding of womanness embedded in human understanding. This, of course, is exactly what the campaigners wish, for they are revolutionaries and are using language to that end.
This methodology of active language subversion can be seen in the words gender, gendered and cis-gender/ cis-gendered. Historically ‘gender’ was a noun meaning a male or female of the species or relating to the classification of male and female (he or she or it.) Recently, as the concept of gender became not something expressive of an inherent trait but something distinct in itself, the word has been divorced from any relationship to biological sex. Gender became something to be identified and assigned, so ‘gendered’ came into being. Finally the word cis-gendered, meaning to identify with the gender to with which you were assigned at birth, was created to embed the idea of gender being assigned – and therefore of being self-identified. The old meaning of the word is destroyed and a change in thought and understanding performed. One’s gender is no longer an objective criteria but a subjective experience. Gender being a subjective, felt experience thus becomes ‘fluid’, it being dependent upon the fluctuating feelings of the individual at any one time.
As with the word woman, the change in the meaning of ‘gender’ reflects a change in how the world is perceived. The truth of whether you are man / male / masculine or woman / female /feminine is no longer ‘out there’ and objective, to be recognised and accepted. Truth is now ‘in here’, subjective and to be expressed. Hence the term ‘my truth’ is entering the language, what is true for me is not necessarily true for you. if the nature of truth is altering this is a radical change in our understanding of the world. The re-definition of these words is limiting our ability to reason. If what is true for me is not true for you how can there be common ground, how can we reason together, how can we converse? The same shift in society’s understanding has already happened in other areas of understanding, beauty is no longer an objective fact but is ‘in the eye of the beholder.’ Beauty is ascribed to something by the individual who perceives it, not because it is inherent to that which is being perceived. As modern art shows, the ancient concept whereby beauty was recognised by its balance of symmetry, proportion and harmony has long been set aside. If truth is rendered totally subjective there can be no agreement and no common ground between parties, they can each hold views that are in their own eyes completely legitimate.
In this year of toppling statues and the ‘de-colonisation’ of school and university curricula there is a salient word of warning from George Orwell. He fully understood that to cement a revolution the mind of the people had to be re-moulded ,and that language had to be subverted to that end. Orwell’s Appendix to his novel 1984 was ‘The Principles of Newspeak’, here are a couple of quotes from that piece:
‘The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of IngSoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought – that is, a thought diverging from the principles of IngSoc – should be literally unthinkable.’
‘When Oldspeak had been once and for all superseded, the last link with the past would have been severed. History had already been re-written…’
The definition of terms, the nature of language, the process of logic and reason and the nature of truth are all inextricably combined. When language is de-graded and the meaning of words changed, when the past re-written and information controlled, ‘truth’ is only what those in power decide it to be, language becomes just a tool of propaganda. A rich and varied language with the meaning of words agreed is a strong safeguard against tyranny.
The christian worldview has a very strong and distinct take on language and the nature of truth. God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, is known as ‘the Word.’ The creative power of God is enacted through the word. Throughout the Bible God speaks in many and various ways to humanity. Further, God does not only speak but he engages in conversation; ‘let us reason together’ he says to the prophet Isaiah, Jeremiah asks questions of God’s judgements, God intervenes in Job’s conversations with his comforters. Language, speech and reason are integral to the divine nature. As it is with God, so it is with mankind that is made in God’s image; words are an integral part of being human. Similarly with truth, Jesus Christ declares himself to be the truth and that knowledge of the truth will set people free. Truth is of paramount concern to God, it is an expression of his nature. All truth is found in God according to the Christian tradition, even personal truths. And if personal truths are found in God then all truth is objective. A subjective experience can never be a valid basis for establishing the truth unless that experience is also found in the divine – without that it is merely a personal opinion, and a false one at that.
Truth can only be found in the objective, which is ultimately only found in the divine. Searching for a subjective truth is a blind alley for the human being is an unstable and impermanent creature. For language, and therefore logic and reason to be valid tools for the human search for truth and meaning, it must be rooted in the words of God, who declared, ’My word is truth.’ Heaven and earth may pass away but the Word of God will stand forever.
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