Does language shape the way we think? Why or why not?
In my opinion, language obviously shapes the way we think. In the TED talk “How Language Shapes the Way We Think”, the speaker Boroditsky used color as an example to show that different countries have different descriptions of colors. I think each country has a different culture. In ancient China, everything seemed to have its own color, and each color seemed to have its own story and character. The Chinese language has been passed down for thousands of years, enriched with more poetic and symbolic colors. So when Chinese people see a color, they can have more poetic words to describe it. However, in English, the description of the color is very simple. We speak the colors directly in English, not in a poetic way. These differences show the influence of different cultures on language description.
There is also a big difference between Chinese and Western cultures in understanding and thinking about knowledge. The Chinese believe that knowledge is historical and original. Therefore, learning is learning history, the so-called preface, and then enlightens, realizes, and comprehends. This process does not require logical argumentation and does not require concept definition. In short, for Chinese people, knowledge is inherent. For Westerners, knowledge is nothing. Because knowledge is absent, to accept and promote it, logical arguments are needed.
