Is language essential for thinking?(생각하는 데 언어가 필요할까?)

<written on  2019.2.28>

 

Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." As a human being, we think all the time. We think about almost everything: how the weather is like, everyday scedule, etc. But when we do, we usually use language to do so. In fact, language is used in thinking so much that it is hard to imagine that it is possible not to use it. I was interested by this topic and began researching, and found out about some cases.

 

The first case is a person who does know language, but can think without them. According to Temple Grandin, an American professor of animal science, and also the author of books like "Thinking in Pictures" and "The Autistic Brain", said that when she thinks, most of the times it is not in language. Instead, she pictures an image in her mind about what she's thinking of.

 

Another case is a boy who was deaf and didn't learn language before going through education for deafs. After learning language, he could say very specificly what emotions he felt and thoughts he had, even from when he was younger(and didn't know language). It would not have been possible if he had not been able to think and remember events in a specific way when he didn't know language.

 

In conclusion, language isn't vital for thoughts; it's just a way of organizing them. You don't need language to think, you can think with images or other ways.