John Gillis III 11/16/13 Philosophy of language Language is a concept that has guided humanity from its beginnings.

Its influence is seen in the depths of human thought and reasoning and in everyday life. Language is in everything to the largest planets in space, to the smallest particles of the very essence of matter. When observing language, people realize that we are not looking at an abstract concept that most see it as, but a tool that has been given to express our ideas and observed material. In fact language is so deep, it really should be under a philosophical study that we continue to understand. The simplicity of language has been study by many philosophers whom have classified it into different things that people still follow today. Language was first used during the time of Adam in the Garden of Eden when God gave Adam the command to name all the living things. After that there is no evidence of any other significant study of language until Plato classified language in its deepest form. Plato classified language as a description that the world of ideas has dominion over the world of forms. Thats confusing at first but what Plato is saying is that a mans ideas exceed the form because the form is only what I describe it as in its form. All Plato really did was describing language for what we already use it for but as a philosopher he made progress towards grasping language better. As people began expressing their opinion on what they thought language was they delved deeper and deeper into the philosophy of what it truly was. Some accused Plato of not incorporating the five senses we had and not using those in his definition of what language was. What they meant was that Platos definition, that the world of ideas is greater than the world of forms, did not incorporate the five senses, taste, touch, hearing, sight, and smell; which prevented us from observing what the form was that would give us the idea of what it was. Language today has become way more complicated than it was back then especially today in our modern English language. Slang and synonyms for words has led to a continually complex language that we have developed. But if words are a way to express our ideas maybe America is not dumbing not the language, but rather expressing the way we view life in different accents and word usage. The life of a business man in New York City differs from that of a Georgia corn farmer and yet so does there dialect. I believe the way people speak can trace them to a specific area and way of life thus the form that the people have shaped into has led to an idea of how they talk, walk, and dress which then gave us the terms city slickers and redneck Language and is influence still hold today and will never change. Philosophically speaking we will never really figure out where and how it came about. But we can understand, just like we give names to peoples dialect and how their culture, that the philosophy of language is big and we need to respect that without even a complex language nothing could happen.