The Language of Thinking.

Abstract

Although involves much than we can say, we would have far less access to that more without the of thinking, according to Ms. Tishman and Mr. Perkins. What comes first, a word or a thought? The relationship between and has intrigued scholars and artists for centuries. Anticipating Lev Vygotsky's view that thought is not only expressed in words but comes into existence through them, Emily Dickinson took this stand: A word is dead When it is said, Some say. I say it just Begins to That day.(1) Words and thoughts through each other. One interesting realm in which to examine how this happens is that of the special class of words we have for talking about thought - words for talking about the processes that lead to products of thought such as ideas and theories. What is this language of thinking - what is its lexicon, what is it for, how does it work, and what role does it play in human development and education? We hope to shed some light on these questions by exploring the various ways we talk about thought and by looking at how, to borrow Emily Dickinson's phrase, the of makes begin to live by shaping and regulating conceptual development. What Is the Language of Thinking? The of embraces the many ways we describe our own and others' mental states and mental processes. For example, we use the of when we talk about the processes involved in developing a theory, examining a claim, making a decision, or creating a work of art. We use the of when we characterize others' mental states by saying things like: Julia believes that everyone should vote; Juan thinks that it will snow; Martin concluded that he doesn't like papayas; I suspect that you're telling the truth. The English has a remarkable number of finely nuanced terms for describing thinking. For example, consider the words guess, suppose, surmise, assume, and speculate. All of them concern forming an opinion based on inconclusive evidence. At the same time, each term suggests a subtle but important difference in the relationship of evidence to opinion. For another example, consider the words contemplate, ruminate, reflect, and ponder. Each of these terms describes a form of slow and deep cerebration, yet each carries its own distinct meaning. The vocabulary of can be roughly divided into terms that fill three different functions: terms that mark an epistemic stance,(2) terms that describe an intellectual process, and terms that describe an intellectual product. Epistemic-stance terms indicate a stance or attitude toward a claim to knowledge. Examples include such terms as conjecture, conclude, believe, confirm, doubt, know, suggest, speculate, suspect, and theorize. To see how these terms function as stance indicators, consider the claim Grasshoppers dream in color and the following sentences. * I believe that grasshoppers dream in color. * I have confirmed that grasshoppers dream in color. * I suspect that grasshoppers dream in color. * I am certain that grasshoppers dream in color. Each of these sentences takes a quite different stance toward the truth of the claim. And it is the stance markers that provide essential information about how the claim should be taken. Epistemic-stance terms function by characterizing the relationship of thought to fact. Intellectual-process terms characterize the process of and express its flow, structure, and feel. Intellectual-process terms include such words as analyze, contemplate, discern, interpret, investigate, ponder, examine, and recollect, to name but a few. What is distinctive about intellectual-process terms is that they discriminate among ways of thinking. To say that one is pondering something is to characterize one's in quite a different way than to say that one is analyzing, reviewing, considering, or investigating something. …

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