Discuss the roles of Language and Reason in History

Title

Discuss the roles of Language and Reason in History

Most of the knowledge that we possess today is a result of the learning and findings that have already occurred- in our past. And we still continue to learn everyday. The past - our History - covers the entirety of time. But the significance of History is such that the events that previously took place have led to this day and provided us with a better understanding of where we stand in the world today from where we were when the first group of Homo Erectus spread out from a village in Africa (Chandra 5). What we know of our past today has been handed down through some evidence; either spoken word or in written form. This is where the question arises, to what extent we can rely upon the evidence that we have that tells us of our history. And even if we get beyond this evidence, how is it that the two ways of knowing: language and reason have shaped our history? History in itself is a vast area of knowledge. I believe it covers the other areas of knowledge, such as, mathematics, science, ethics and arts since all of them have a past in their making. Therefore in this essay, I am going to discuss the roles that language and reason play in the history that we know today and how other ways of knowing such as sense perception and emotion may influence language and reason that led to the formation of this history. Language, in the case of human beings is a tool for communication and verbal expression. Language can be said to have formed most of our History because we’ve been told what has happened and ‘telling’ happens through language. As Wendy Doniger on the History of the Hindus, the prominent religion of my country puts it “The word for ‘history’ in Sanskrit, itihasa, co...

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...st, a question arises in my mind ‘How would it have been if things did not happen the way they did”. Through this essay, I have found a deeper meaning to this question and have had the opportunity to explore the vastness of it. Just like the vastness the History contains.

Works Cited

1. Chandra, Nayan. Bound Together. Noida: Penguin Viking, 2007. Print.

2. Doniger, Wendy. The Hindus. An Alternative History. Noida: Penguin Viking, 2009 Print.

3. Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie’s World. Great Britain: Orion, 1991. Print

4. Dombrowski, Eileen, Lena Rotenberg and Mimi Beck. Theory of Knowledge. Course Companion. Great Britain: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Internet Sources

1. Vento, Arnoldo Carlos. Aztec Myths and Cosmology. http://eaglefeather.org/series/Native%20American%20Series/Excerpt%20Aztec%20Myths%20and%20Cosmology.pdf Last visited: March