- Language and Thought

Catalog description

An interdisciplinary seminar on the interrelation between language and thought. Language and thought are intimately connected in human beings, but how exactly are they interrelated? Does the specific language you speak change how you experience the world? Do humans think and experience the world differently than other animals because of our unique linguistic abilities? Are human language abilities in fact unique in the animal kingdom? In this class, students will look to both historical and contemporary psychologists and philosophers to interrogate the nuances of the relationship between language and thought. Students will read, write, discuss, and think about how different cultures and species perceive and represent such concepts as gender, agency, time, space, number, and color.