Philosophy has a lot to do with language: it has been one of the most popular topics among philosophers since the end of the nineteenth century, but of course it was important even before that. Because no matter how much you think, without language you cannot exchange and discuss ideas with others. You must have some language. This applies to any science, but it seems intuitively more important to philosophy. After all, people tend not to talk about lab settings and protocol data, but about something like moral laws, the certainty of dying one day, or the importance of abstract art.
Even in slang, there is the idea that some words are specific to certain languages and cannot really be translated into other languages. In German, this idea persists in terms of comfort, security, or home, among others. Expressions such as Zeitgeist or Weltschmerz have been adopted as loanwords in some foreign languages. Since so many important philosophical works appeared in the German-speaking region for about 200 years from the eighteenth century, it is no wonder that there are so many nuances in German philosophical terms that it is sometimes difficult to translate. In English, for example, the soul cannot be 100% reproduced as “mind,” and it is difficult to distinguish between experience and experience.
But the fact that people living in their homes in different languages may somehow think that they are incompatible is considered objectionable. If one philosophizes seemingly differently in different languages, it is not because radically different things are happening in minds. However, in non-English-speaking philosophy (or at least in large parts of it) one tries to maintain one’s own language and not to convert the work of philosophy entirely into English. It is therefore largely agreed that there is no philosophical content which cannot be expressed in any foreign language – if necessary with a similar effort – but at the same time it would be a great loss to include philosophy in only one language of command. How does that fit together?
“Alcohol buff. Troublemaker. Introvert. Student. Social media lover. Web ninja. Bacon fan. Reader.”
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