I have an issue with words.
Issue isn’t a very good word. Maybe a better way:
I have a sinking spiral of questions about words. Not their definitions, etymology, pronunciation, or even spelling. Their meaning however, gets me.
Allow me to be very very post-enlightenment here.
Words report information. Truth generally. Whether this is fictitious truth or not is beside the point, nonetheless words in their rawest sense, are meant to carry truth with them.
As long as our definition of truth is big enough to include several types of truth, we should have no problem with this.
But like I said a moment ago, it is the words I have problems with, not the truths.
Numbers are static, 3 always means 3, always will mean 3 and can’t mean something other than 3 until other numbers interact with it. Newtons first law.
Words however, are not static. Words only have one reference point, and that is other words.
Words are more like a sea of waves bouncing off of each other, and creating an ever changing ocean.
Whereas a numbers reference point is intrinsic, a words meaning comes elsewhere.
It may seem that this is where I have gone too far left and fallen off the deep end. Not so fast, if I may say.
This very fact, that words are always a little ambiguous, is exactly what I think makes them more profound, and even true, than other things. In the words of Chesterton:
“Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite.”
Classic aporia.
I’d like to know what your definition of truth is when you say that “words carry truth”. I think that’s a little misleading. In fact, I’d even say it contradicts the point your trying to make in this post.
My interpretation of your argument is that there is a paradox between the purpose of words (conveying truth) and their actual use (which fluctuates). I would argue that your assumption is wrong. I don’t think words are supposed to convey truth. I think the purpose of words is to convey a meaning, and that is exactly what they do. They convey a meaning. That meaning is often understood differently by those who are listening to or reading the words, though.
Anyway, that’s just me being picky about the first part of your argument.
I totally agree with the rest. There’s a fun fact that gets passed around which states that when you’re giving a speech, no one in the room understands what you’re saying exactly the same way you do, because each person understands some of your words differently, contributing to a slightly different understanding of the concept.
So I decided to respond like 24 hours before I will even see you, Jeremy.
When I say ‘truth’ I would use ‘meaning’ synonymously, but if I said ‘meaning’ it wouldn’t be as daring to say.
That is why I included the sentence ‘as long as your mean on truth is big enough, this shouldn’t be a problem.’
By this I mean that there are several types of truth/meaning.
For example:
“It is cloudy outside” is a statement that can lead to all sorts of ‘truth’. You won’t need your sunglasses (truth). You may want to bring an umbrella (truth). Cloudy days are the best (relative truth). Cloudy days are the worst (relative truth). There is a blanket of moisture in the air between the sun and land, this layer of moister forms a grayish looking mass (more scientific truth).
All truths, very different truths.
That was my point.