We all have images without words – those unfinished utterances we wish much later to have been able to share with others. You probably also know the experience of waking up with a sense of discovery – but what? Perhaps we saw the solution to a puzzle that has long irked us, or perhaps we have even sensed a new understanding of ourselves. Of course, the idea of images without words goes against everything we believe we know about language. The naïve view that we start with an idea that is formed into concepts and words is upside-down: We start with words and sounds that ultimately become the building blocks of our language and therefore of our thoughts. The idealistic formulation of language following, or built upon, thought runs against our present understanding, for we believe against all “common sense” that language is built upon abstract thought. So now we must make sense of the contradiction between “thought” and “expression”.
When the parent says to the errant child, “think before you act”, he or she may be putting the cart before the horse. If thinking arises out of actions – or if it is actions that lead to meanings, why not say, “think while you act and then put your actions into words”.
When the parent says to the errant child, “think before you act”, he or she may be putting the cart before the horse. If thinking arises out of actions – or if it is actions that lead to meanings, why not say, “think while you act and then put your actions into words”.
