I very much enjoyed this debate with Safwan Masri, Lera Boroditsky and David Shariatmadari. Safwan held that the stories we tell and the language we use to form them are primary in constructing our realities. Lera argued that language is utterly foundational to how we think on a cognitive level. David came from a linguistic perspective on the value of different language to allow us to get at ideas differently. I was the logocentrist of the group, arguing that, while language is powerful and can persuade or alienate, it is ultimately a tool that allows us to express ideas and address issues, not a constructor of reality.
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world”
— Wittgenstein
“The words we use are strong,
They make reality”
— Wang Chung, “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”