Exploring how language shapes our view of the world and what that means for human thought. This insightful discussion examines why people tend to see objects as subjects, and how that bias might lie at the heart of language, culture, and knowledge.
In these pages, the author traces a bold line from social acts to speech, and from speech to reason. He argues that language grows from how we act together, then transforms our experience by reimagining nature as something with thoughts and intentions. The result is a provocative look at how humanity moved from common actions to the words and ideas that define civilization.
- How early language may have evolved from shared actions and social needs
- The idea that we conceptually treat objects as if they have minds, a process called subjectivism
- Four stages of verb forms and how they reflect moving from action to state to object in language
- The debate around language, thought, and the limits of scientific explanations for human uniqueness
Ideal for readers curious about the origins of language, thought, and what makes humans distinct in the animal world.