I went to a lecture by the famous cognitive linguist and outspoken opponent of George Bush this past Wednesday. Lakoff recently came out with a new book "Don’t think of an Elephant". He talked much more about politics than about linguistics that was for sure. I agreed with him on some issues but a few of his ideas were just a little too far out for me to be convinced, although I would be interested in reading more about them. He talked about the language used by republicans and what that relates to in out minds, ex. Tax relief. He also said that the idea that the United States was founded on ideas of reason from the enlightenment era was completely incorrect.
I also saw my linguistics professor at his lecture. Now that has got to look good!
3 comments:
So, the Founding Fathers were not influenced by the Enlightenment? I think Lakoff must stand alone on this point. And his evidence for this proposition is...?
He's probably coming from the perspective made popular by Charles Beard which believes that the founders of the United States were serving their own economic interests and set up the country in such a way as to secure them.
Saying that the Founding Fathers were or weren't influenced by "the" Enlightenment begs the question of what "the" Enlightenment was.
Yes, I'm curious about his reasoning behind the statement.
Did he not talk about the linguistics used by the Democrat party?
Post a Comment