Throughout the entirety of our species evolution, we have had a partner besides us growing along the way. An essential aspect of humanity that enables us to separate ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom has been there from the start, this aspect is language. As we’ve evolved, so has our language. Being able to communicate in a more complex manner than other species has enabled us to perceive the world in a new light and with a more collective mindset. Therefore, we have become a super species that is able to see things just from hearing people speak about them. This exceptional ability can be seen in a myriad a literary works. In “The Mind’s Eye”, by Oliver Sacks, Sacks talks to blind people in order to better understand the way they
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Language is an immense portion of this sensory information as it shapes not only the way people perceive their environment but also the environment itself. Cultures can be divided based on the language used in each culture, and by extension cultures can shape the way that people perceive things. For example, in the Japanese culture, mental illnesses such as depression are described by words that relate to outward expressions. Meanwhile in America, language was being used to describe depression in more of an inward sense. This implies that language has buried itself in cultures as well and that cultures heavily influence perception. This can be seen because the differences between Japanese and American outlooks on depression “were not simply linguistic differences but cultural ‘variations in the subjective meanings and experience of depression’” (Watters 522). However, culture is not only defined by ethnicity but rather by a set of shared ideologies. This is where blind culture also comes into …show more content…
Language comes in many different forms, whether it is visual, auditory, or even tactile. Visualization, however, is not limited to only sight as it is primarily a function of the brain, and can still be rendered by the visual cortex. The only problem is that the visual cortex needs fuel in order to create pictures for people to see, and through many means, language can be that fuel. Vision is the primary source of perception; we as humans have an extremely well developed ability to see, perceive, and understand the environment that we are in. However, vision can become clouded from different sources. Blindness, for example, can take away one’s ability to see entirely, or persuasion, can alter the way one perceives his or her environment. Language is able to pick up the slack and that is created with a loss of vision. With language vision, and consequently, perception can be shared and melded into something much more powerful and unique, an amalgamation of several
Language is an immense portion of this sensory information as it shapes not only the way people perceive their environment but also the environment itself. Cultures can be divided based on the language used in each culture, and by extension cultures can shape the way that people perceive things. For example, in the Japanese culture, mental illnesses such as depression are described by words that relate to outward expressions. Meanwhile in America, language was being used to describe depression in more of an inward sense. This implies that language has buried itself in cultures as well and that cultures heavily influence perception. This can be seen because the differences between Japanese and American outlooks on depression “were not simply linguistic differences but cultural ‘variations in the subjective meanings and experience of depression’” (Watters 522). However, culture is not only defined by ethnicity but rather by a set of shared ideologies. This is where blind culture also comes into …show more content…
Language comes in many different forms, whether it is visual, auditory, or even tactile. Visualization, however, is not limited to only sight as it is primarily a function of the brain, and can still be rendered by the visual cortex. The only problem is that the visual cortex needs fuel in order to create pictures for people to see, and through many means, language can be that fuel. Vision is the primary source of perception; we as humans have an extremely well developed ability to see, perceive, and understand the environment that we are in. However, vision can become clouded from different sources. Blindness, for example, can take away one’s ability to see entirely, or persuasion, can alter the way one perceives his or her environment. Language is able to pick up the slack and that is created with a loss of vision. With language vision, and consequently, perception can be shared and melded into something much more powerful and unique, an amalgamation of several