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CRITICAL THINKING
Understanding
The Principles And Processes
Of Thinking Well
Chapter 5
Thinking Critically About Language
By
Glenn Rogers, Ph.D.
Copyright
©
2013
Glenn Rogers
Thinking Critically About Language
This is a course on critical thinking. So why are we going to talk about
language? Because without language you cannot be rational. Neither can
you communicate. Just as critical thinking is about logic, critical thinking is
about language.
One of the ways we understand the world we live in is by categorizing things.
Language provides you with categories for rational analysis. This thing, a chair,
is like that thing, a sofa, so the two things go into a category of similar things,
things you sit on, or a broader category of similar things called furniture.
These categories we have are associated with the language we learn as
children. The vocabulary of our language allows us identify specific things and
concepts, and think in the concrete and the abstract about those things.
Thinking Critically About Language
Rationality occurs in relation to language. Indeed, it is only possible where
language exists. Where there is no language, there is no rationality. Critical
thinking cannot occur without the use of language. The more we understand
about language, and the better we use language, the better our critical
thinking will be.
Understanding What Language is and How it Works
Language is a system of symbols used for thinking and communicating.
If I think the thought, I am hungry, I have utilized language at the thought level.
I cannot have the thought, formulate or articulate the thought, I am hungry,
without the use of language.
If I say or write, I am hungry, I have utilized language at the communication
level.
Thinking Critically About Language
Understanding What Language is and How it Works
What does it mean to say that language is a system of symbols used for thinking and
communicating?
Words are symbols that represent real things and the ideas and concepts that are
part of our reality. For instance, when I say the word, dog, you get the image of a
dog in your head.
The word, dog, is made up of the letters (symbols) d/o/g, which create another
symbol, the word dog. The image in your head is also a symbol.
The word, dog, is a signifier, that represents the real thing, a real animal that we
happen to refer to as a dog. The image in your head is also a signifier. It is not a real
dog.
We think in images, in symbols, in signifiers, and we speak using those same symbols
and signifiers.
Thinking Critically About Language
Linguistic Symbols
When humans think, when we utilize our rational faculties, we make use of
symbols. When we speak, we utilize symbols. We utilize symbols in nearly
every aspect of our lives. We might even say that because of the way and
the extent to which we use symbols, we are a symbolic species.
The thing about using symbols, about thinking and speaking in symbols, is that
symbols have to be interpreted.
The Location of Meaning
It is essential, especially from the point of view of the one trying to
communicate with others, that we understand where meaning is, where it is
located. The short answer is that meanings are in the receiver. What does
that mean?
Thinking Critically About Language
The Location of Meaning
In communication theory, the person who is speaking or writing is referred to
as the sender. The person listening or reading is the receiver.
The sender has an idea in her head that she wants to communicate to
another person.
To get the idea that is in her head into the head of the other person, she must
encode the idea (the message she wants to send) in linguistic symbols and
send those symbols (via speaking or writing) to the other person.
That person, the receiver, must receive the message and then decode it
(figure out what it means).
Thinking Critically About Language
The Location of Meaning
The decoding part of the communication process is where meaning is
attached, by the receiver, to the symbols that were sent by the sender.
If the receiver attaches meanings to the incoming symbols that are close to
the meanings attached by the sender (in her encoding process) then
communication occurs.
If the meanings attached by the receiver are not close or are different than
those attached by the sender, then a miscommunication occurs.
Thus, a major concern for communicators is how their message will be
received or interpreted by those who hear or read it.
Thinking Critically About Language
The Location of Meaning
But aren’t words defined in dictionaries? Aren’t we supposed to look words
up so that we know what they mean? Yes. But not everyone does. Why
not? Sometimes people are too lazy to look up the meaning of a word.
Sometimes they think they already know what a word means. And
sometimes, a word used in one context can mean one thing, which someone
might understand, and at other times the same word can mean something
different, which the person might not understand.
But more problematic is the fact that we have, because of our socialization,
built-in meanings for words and concepts that transcend dictionary
definitions. And sometimes the meanings people attach to words are
associated with how words are spoken and the context in which they are
spoken.
Thinking Critically About Language
The Location of Meaning
Good critical thinkers will keep this in mind when communicating with others.
The basic question to be asked when preparing to communicate with others
is, how will he or she or they understand what I am about to say? Do I have to
be concerned about vocabulary, about education, about experience? Yes.
Choosing the Right Words
Choosing the right words to communicate the idea you want to get across is
crucial.
Thinking Critically About Language
Choosing the Right Words
The right word facilitates communication; the wrong word disrupts
communication. You must consider the audience to whom you are
speaking, whether one person or one hundred.
You must consider their educational level, their familiarity with the subject,
their knowledge of the vocabulary associated with the topic under
consideration, and so forth.
You need to use words that will clarify rather than confuse. However, you
don’t want to simplify (dumb down) your presentation so that it begins to feel
inconsequential.
Thinking Critically About Language
Choosing the Right Words
Sometimes there is only one word that will do. Sometimes, in order to do
justice to a given topic, a specific or specialized vocabulary is necessary. In
that case, you need to define the words you are using so that your audience
will understand what you are saying.
A dictionary and Thesaurus are indispensable tools when looking for just the
right word to use.
Good critical thinkers will be careful about the words they use. It is not just
that you want to avoid using the wrong word; you want to choose the right
word, the best word, to say exactly what you want to say, a word the
audience will understand.
Thinking Critically About Language
Audience
Your audience is whomever you are speaking to, whether it is your best friend or
five hundred strangers. Or it is whoever will be reading the paper you are writing.
Your audience may be your professor. Or it may be other students who have to
read each other’s papers. Or it may be the readers of a technical journal or a
popular magazine.
You need to know something about your audience. What is their general
educational level? How much are they likely to know about subject you are
speaking or writing about? How interested are they in the subject?
How are they going to use the information you are going to give them? Are they
going to use it to make up their minds about a political issue? Will they use it to
make a decision about some social or economic concern? Will the information
you give them impact what kind of a car they will buy, or how they do their
grocery shopping?
Thinking Critically About Language
Audience
Who is your audience? Will it be mostly men or mostly women? This matters
because men and women, to a degree, may focus on different concerns and
utilize different criteria in the decision-making process. Will your audience be
most people in their twenties or people over fifty?
Will your audience be mostly people with masters and doctors degrees or
mostly people who have not completed advanced degrees? Will your
audience be people with considerable wealth, or people of average
income?
These kinds of considerations matter when you are preparing to speak to an
audience (of one or of many) because these kinds of considerations impact
how people hear (interpret) what you say. Good critical thinkers will take their
audience into consideration whether preparing a presentation or simply
having a conversation.
Thinking Critically About Language
Purpose
What is it you are trying to accomplish in your presentation? Are you trying to
inform by presenting information? Or are you trying to persuade people to
take action? Perhaps you are trying to motivate them to act based on the
information you are sharing with them. Perhaps your purpose is to convince a
professor that you know how to write a research paper, or that you have
grasped the concepts of a given subject.
What you are trying to do has a lot to do with how you go about doing it.
A good critical thinker will figure out exactly what she needs to do, what her
purpose is, and then write her article, or design her presentation to do just
that. Convincing and motivating people is a different process from informing
them. Motivating someone requires a call to action. Informing them does
not.
Thinking Critically About Language
Defining Important Terms
Defining important terms is crucial to good thinking and good communication.
Suppose, for instance, that you are writing a paper on the concerns related to
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as it relates to vegetables and health
concerns.
You may understand the issues related to a tomato that has been genetically
modified to be bigger, or to grow faster, or to require less water or to be resistant to a
certain kind of insect, or whatever the genetic modification was intended to
accomplish.
But the average person you are trying to educate about the concerns of genetically
modified vegetables will probably not be comfortable with the technical language.
So define and explain terms and concepts.
Thinking Critically About Language
Defining Important Terms
And your definition must be helpful…
Consider the following definitions:
genetically, that is, having to do with genetics;
modified, that is, having to do with changes;
organisms, that is having to do with simple or complex living, growing things.
Technically, I have defined each part of the term genetically modified
organism. But how helpful are my definitions for someone who is not familiar
with scientific language? Not very helpful at all.
A good definition is expansive and offers insight. It clarifies and explains.
Thinking Critically About Language
Univocal and Equivocal Words
Some words have only one meaning; some words have more than one
meaning.
A univocal word is one that has only one meaning. A typical illustration of a
univocal term is the word entomology, which refers to the study of insects.
The word has no other meanings.
An equivocal term is one that has more than one meaning. The word bank is
an example of an equivocal term. The word bank can refer to an economic
institution where money is kept for use, saved and loaned. The word can also
refer to the strip of land that runs alongside a river—as in the riverbank. The
word bank can also refer to a plane turning—to turn, the plane banks.
Thinking Critically About Language
Univocal and Equivocal Words
Since we can’t think without language, and since we can only think well if we
can use language proficiently, good critical thinkers will be careful to avoid
using equivocal terms. It is always better to use univocal terms if possible. If
one must use equivocal terms, be sure the terms is defined clearly and
precisely so your audience understands in what sense you are using the word.
Good critical thinkers will always be aware of the words they are using.
Emotionally Supercharged Terminology
Human beings are rational-emotive beings. We are rational and we are
emotional. We cannot be all of one and none of the other. When we think
we are not only utilizing our rationality, we are also utilizing our emotionality.
Thinking Critically About Language
Emotionally Supercharged Terminology
What has this got to do with critical thinking? Critical thinking cannot be
devoid of emotion anymore than any other aspect of our lives can be devoid
of emotion. But emotions must be subject to the scrutiny of rationality.
Some people want so much to convince others that their view is correct and
that it ought to be adopted that they resort to the use of emotion rather than
rationality to persuade. You will often here blatant appeals to emotion in
debates about various subjects.
Consider the debate regarding euthanasia. Jim is terminally ill and wants to
die with dignity. He asks the doctor for something that will result in his death.
The doctor gives Jim a drink that will stop his bodily functions, resulting in Jim’s
death. This is active euthanasia. Critics will say that the doctor “murdered”
Jim. Did the doctor “murder” Jim?
Thinking Critically About Language
Emotionally Supercharged Terminology
In this example, the word “murder” is an emotionally supercharged word. At
best, it’s use in this context is questionable.
A good critical thinker is always fair and will not use emotionally charged
language in an attempt to sway an audience.
Linguistic Misdirection
Linguistic misdirection is using a word that means something different than
what is being considered, or terminology or phraseology that focuses
attention on something other than the subject under consideration.
Thinking Critically About Language
Linguistic Misdirection
An example: Fred asks his boss for a raise. His boss says, “Sorry Fred, I can’t do
that.” But Fred has seen the quarterly earnings report and knows the
company is doing quite well. His boss could, if he would, give Fred a raise.
When he says, “I can’t” what he really means is, “I won’t.”
Misdirecting a discussion is unethical. Good critical thinkers will not engage is
such deceitful behavior.
Summary
We cannot think without using language so we cannot think well without
using language proficiently.
Thinking Critically About Language
Summary
Language is a system of spoken, written, or gestured symbols that represent or
signify an idea or concept. To get an idea from my mind to yours, I have to
encode the idea in words and send them to you by means of speaking,
writing, or gesturing.
You, then, when you receive the encoded message, must decode it,
attaching meaning to the symbols you receive. If the meanings you attach
to the symbols I sent you are the same or close to the same as the meanings I
have for those symbols, we communicate.
If the meanings you attach to the symbols I sent you are different, we
miscommunicate.
Thinking Critically About Language
Summary
Good critical thinks need to understand how the process works and learn to
use it well, paying attention to the audience to whom they are speaking, and
the purpose they are trying to accomplish. They need to define important
terms, and be care about equivocal terminology.
Good critical thinks will avoid using technical jargon when they can, will not
use emotionally supercharged language, and will not engage in linguistic
misdirection.