only be sure of myself, so in this essay I am often going to use myself as an example) that I am stuck with words. I have something in my mind but cannot find the words to express it. Elementary, yes, but if this is so, then one must agree that there is a gap between thought and language. That they are not the same thing, that at least in some cases thought comes before language and probably vice versa in others (take listening for example). And if this is so then one must also admit that a word is already, in a way, a lie. A lie not meaning it is trying to hide the "truth" but rather it is incapable of expressing the "truth". "Truth" in hyphens because, if this is the case, then how do we define truth? when the only tool (language) we have for defining it defies its very existence. 2.1 About languageIt is said (by Mr. Barrosso, my psychology teacher, for example, and agreed upon by other psychologists) that a three month old baby has the same "voice library" as all the other babies (if not disabled) in the world no matter where they are born. After three months, culture kicks in. Only the voices or sounds needed to produce the language(s) that they hear stay, other sounds are forgotten. Only the active part is remembered. What does this have to do with lying? Not that much with lying itself, rather with the development, and definition of language. Language is above all a social tool for communication, a tool for immediate interaction, it is primarily spoken. Writing, recording things, painting mental images and so forth, are (to me at least) secondary functions of language, functions that might be referred to as more civilised, more developed. And one might ask, what is so different in the so called primary and secondary functions? Many things, but one of the characteristics strikes me as relevant to this essay: the more civilised the function of language gets the further away it is from trying to tell the "truth". Example: somebody...
