What Language Adds

Words are the key for communicating with other non-telepathic beings in the most precise ways possible short of seeing directly into other minds (if they exist to begin with).  They are often mistaken for more than this status, with some actually insisting that without language, nothing could be understood--not even self-evident logical axioms and one's immediate thoughts and mental experiences.  What language really adds to life is rather limited.  This can be demonstrated to oneself by something as small as thinking about what is really understood about a concept by learning the words culturally associated with it.  Taking it for granted that something like thoughts are called thoughts or that water is called water is one way to so completely overlook the nature of things other than language.

Familiarity with what other people call things ultimately reveals nothing about the nature of the thing itself, whether ideas, logical truths, experiences, or physical objects.  Words are contrived and used to let communication go beyond gestures, looks, and grunts.  They are not the very things they describe.  When assessed this way, it would seem perfectly clear that language is not logic, emotions, the external world, or any other such thing.  While this may seem so obvious to some people that they might not specifically think about it, others might still confuse knowing a language for understanding concepts in either a practical or more explicitly abstract sense.  This is evident when some people pretend like language is a necessity to even think or grasp reason in the first place or when they treat knowing languages as a grand accomplishment while ignoring the true philosophical knowledge of the things themselves.

What does a person truly learn about a tree from knowing that other people call it a tree?  Absolutely nothing about it except what other people refer to it as has come to light.  Only thinking about, reasoning about without making assumptions, and observing a tree grant humans awareness as to what they are really like.  Yet in everything from college courses to everyday conversations, many people confuse knowing linguistic terms for knowing the nature of a reality words are supposed to refer to.  Words are assumed by such people to be something more than a practical means of communication needed by non-telepaths.  This is a very easily refuted stance, but it is one that subtly gains influence every time someone, subjectively enamored with language or eager to impress someone else, thinks that words are anything more than disposable, utilitarian tools with no inherent linguistic meaning.

In all matters except communication, it does not matter what you call something or even if you do not even assign a word to it at all.  The deeper, more foundational issue is how much one understands the concepts, logical truths, and experiences that pertain to a given thing.  Whether someone hypothetically grew up isolated from all other people or looked to language instead of reason, the same core truths are accessible to everyone: logical axioms, introspective states of mind, and sensory perceptions.  It is from these that one can arrive at ideas which one holds up to reason for metaphysical and epistemological analysis, with or without words.  It is one thing to appreciate, enjoy, and celebrate language, perhaps by thinking using language even when not communicating with anyone.  Only a fool would go beyond this and conflate words with anything else in reality.