6 - Under cover of sensible and powerful words

Summary

The problems of semantic (un)reality and multiplicity become especially serious when they are considered as being irrevocably hidden behind an opaque front of language that has its own indomitable force. It is to the presence and power of words themselves that I now turn.

We have met these qualities before. While logicians confidently merged terms, concepts and things, grammarians flaunt the independence of words through their semiotic (as opposed to semantic) analysis of language. The intricate play of detached signs lays bare the striking autonomy and sensibility of words. Rhetoricians further emphasise the signs themselves. They focus on the seductive sensibility of words, suggesting ways in which their sounds might affect the audience favourably. Far from worrying about these tools of the trade, they applaud their exploitation, leaving it to nervous onlookers to probe the consequences. Moreover, this beguiling sister, Dame Rhetoric, makes a profession out of the potentially duplicitous power of words, winning the day by telling not the truth, but the story she wants her listeners to believe. She thereby exposes the invincible, opaque and creative force of words. These aspects of language cause philosophers variously to think about its dangerous potency.

SENSIBLE WORDS AND (IN)VISIBLE IDEAS

It is generally accepted that words function by being sensible marks of insensible ideas. Their audible or visible status publicises otherwise private ideas. Sounds and images are the sole means of transporting their ideational cargo into the community.