Re Saul and Cheerskep on Sapir's statements, This is precisely the argument used to justify racism and other cultural abuses. Nevertheless, that languge habits shape values is no big discovery. See Montaigne who in turn quote the ancients. wc
________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, January 26, 2013 9:09:52 AM Subject: Re: "We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation." In a message dated 1/26/13 3:09:40 AM, [email protected] writes: > Any reactions to what Edward Sapir said? > Here's Sapir's complete sentence: "We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation." And vice versa. I wonder if Sapir ever analyzed his own attitude toward women to see how his language habits kept him antideluvian. He made moves on both Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, and they both rejected him largely because of his conservative views about the position of women. The insight behind the Sapir sentence above is not profound.
