Part I, Chapter IV, 1

OF SPEECH

The invention of printing, ingenious though it is, is no great matter compared with the invention of letters. But who first discovered the use of letters is unknown. People say Cadmus, son of Agenor, King of Phaenicia, first brought them into Greece. It was a useful invention for preserving the memory of the past and joining humankind across so many far-flung regions of the Earth; and a difficult one, requiring careful observation of the various movements of the tongue, palate, lips, and other organs of speech, in order to devise a corresponding variety of written characters to remember them. But the noblest and most useful invention of all was speech, consisting of names or appellations and their connections. By it people record their thoughts, recall them when they have passed, and communicate them to one another for mutual benefit and conversation. Without it there would have been among human beings no Commonwealth, no society, no contract, and no peace, any more than among lions, bears, and wolves. The first author of speech was GOD himself, who taught Adam to name the creatures he presented to his sight; Scripture tells us no more than this. Yet this was enough to enable Adam to add further names as his experience and use of the creatures called for them, and gradually to join the names so as to make himself understood. In time he might thus acquire as much language as he found useful, though not so rich as an orator or philosopher requires. For I find nothing in Scripture from which one can infer, directly or by implication, that Adam was taught the names of all figures, numbers, measures, colors, sounds, fancies, and relations; much less the names of words and forms of speech, such as general, special, affirmative, negative, interrogative, optative, and infinitive, all of which are useful; and least of all such terms of the Schools as entity, intentionality, and quiddity.

But all the language Adam and his descendants had acquired and expanded was lost again at the tower of Babel, when God punished each man for rebellion by making him forget his former language. Forced thereby to disperse into different parts of the world, they must have developed the diversity of tongues that now exists by degrees, as necessity, the mother of all inventions, taught them; and with the passage of time those tongues grew richer everywhere.

The general use of speech is to turn our mental discourse into verbal discourse, or the train of our thoughts into a train of words. This has two advantages. The first is recording the consequences of our thoughts, which otherwise readily slip from our memory and force us to begin our labor anew, but can be recalled by the words with which we marked them. Thus the first use of names is to serve as marks, or aids to memory. The other advantage is that people using the same words can communicate to one another, through their arrangement and order, what they conceive or think about each matter, as well as what they desire, fear, or feel any other Passion toward; in this use words are called signs. The particular uses of speech are these. First, to record what we discover by thought to be the cause of anything present or past, and what we find present or past things can produce or bring about—in short, to acquire arts. Second, to show others what we have learned, which is to counsel and teach one another. Third, to make our wills and purposes known to others so that we may help one another. Fourth, innocently to please and delight ourselves and others by playing with words for pleasure or ornament.

To these uses correspond four abuses. The first occurs when people record their thoughts wrongly through the shifting meanings of their words, and thereby record as their own conceptions things they never conceived, deceiving themselves. The second occurs when they use words metaphorically, in a sense other than the one for which they were appointed, and thereby deceive others. The third is to declare in words a will that is not their own. The fourth is to use words to hurt one another. Since nature has armed living creatures with teeth, horns, or hands to hurt an enemy, it is an abuse of speech to hurt him with the tongue, unless he is someone we are obliged to govern; in that case our aim is not to hurt but to correct and improve him.

Speech serves the memory of the sequence of causes and effects through the assigning and connecting of names.

Some names are proper, belonging to only one thing, as Peter, John, This Man, and This Tree. Others are common to many things, as Man, Horse, and Tree. Although each of these is one name, it names many individual things; with respect to them all together, it is called a universal. Nothing in the world is universal except names: the things named are each individual and singular.

A single universal name is given to many things because they resemble one another in some quality or other attribute. A proper name calls to mind only one thing, while a universal can call to mind any of many things.

Of universal names, some have a wider scope than others, the wider including the narrower; while some have equal scope and include each other reciprocally. For example, the name Body has a wider meaning than Man and includes it; whereas Man and Rational have equal scope and include one another. But we should notice here that a name does not always mean, as it does in grammar, only one word: it may be a phrase of several words. Thus all these words, He Who In His Actions Observes The Laws Of His Country, form a single name equivalent to the one word Just.

By assigning names of wider or narrower meaning, we turn the mind's reckoning of the consequences of imagined things into a reckoning of the consequences of appellations. For example, a person without any use of speech—someone born completely deaf and mute who remains so—might place before his eyes a triangle and, beside it, two right angles such as the corners of a square figure. By considering them, he might compare and discover that the triangle's three angles equal the two right angles beside it. But if he were shown a triangle of a different shape, he could not know without further effort whether its three angles were likewise equal to the same two angles. Someone who uses words, however, observes that this equality follows not from the length of the sides or any other feature peculiar to his triangle, but solely from its having straight sides and three angles—the very features for which he named it a triangle. He will confidently conclude as a universal rule that all triangles have this equality of angles, and record his discovery in these general terms: Every Triangle Has Its Three Angles Equal To Two Right Angles. Thus a consequence found in one particular case comes to be recorded and remembered as a universal rule. It frees our mental reckoning from time and place, spares the mind every labor but the first, and makes what was found true Here and Now true at All Times and Places.

Nowhere is the use of words in recording our thoughts more evident than in counting. A person of limited natural ability who has never learned the order of number words, such as One, Two, and Three, may note each stroke of a clock and nod at it or say “one, one, one,” yet can never know what hour it strikes. And it appears that there was a time when number words were not in use, and people had to apply the fingers of one or both hands to the things they wished to count. This may explain why number words in every nation now run only to ten, and in some nations only to five, before beginning again. Even someone who can count to ten will lose his place if he recites the numbers out of order and will not know when he is done; much less will he be able to add, subtract, or carry out other operations of arithmetic. Without words, therefore, we cannot reckon numbers, much less magnitudes, speed, force, and the other things whose reckoning is necessary to the existence or well-being of humankind.

When two names are joined in a consequence or affirmation, as in “A Man Is A Living Creature,” or “If He Is A Man, He Is A Living Creature,” the affirmation or consequence is true if the second name, Living Creature, signifies everything signified by the first, Man; otherwise it is false. For true and false are attributes of speech, not of things. Where there is no speech, there is neither truth nor falsehood. There may be error, as when we expect what will not happen or suspect what has not happened, but in neither case can a person be charged with untruth.

OF SPEECH

Printing was an ingenious invention, but it is not especially important compared with the invention of letters. No one knows who first discovered how to use letters. People say Cadmus, the son of Agenor, King of Phaenicia, first brought them to Greece. Letters are a useful invention. They preserve the memory of the past and connect people scattered across the many distant parts of the earth. They were also hard to invent. Their invention required careful observation of the different movements of the tongue, palate, lips, and other organs of speech, so that corresponding differences between written characters could be made and remembered. But the noblest and most useful invention of all was speech, made of names or terms and the ways they are connected. With speech, people record their thoughts, recall them after they have passed, and communicate them to each other for mutual benefit and conversation. Without speech there would be no Common-wealth, society, contract, or peace among human beings, any more than there is among lions, bears, and wolves. GOD himself first made speech: he taught Adam to name the creatures he brought before him. Scripture says no more about this. But that was enough to guide Adam to add more names as his experience with the creatures and his use of them gave him reason to do so. He could gradually join those names together to make himself understood. In time, he could acquire as much language as he found useful, though not as much as an orator or philosopher needs. I find nothing in Scripture that directly says, or implies, that Adam was taught the names of all shapes, numbers, measurements, colors, sounds, mental images, and relations. Still less does it say he was taught names for words and types of speech, such as general, specific, affirmative, negative, interrogative, optative, and infinitive, all of which are useful. Least of all does it say he learned such school terms as entity, intentionality, and quiddity, or other terms the schools consider meaningful.

But all the language Adam and his descendants had acquired and developed was lost again at the tower of Babel. God punished each person for rebelling by making them forget their former language. Forced by this to scatter across different parts of the world, they gradually developed the various languages that exist today, as need—the mother of all inventions—taught them. Over time, languages everywhere grew richer.

The general purpose of speech is to turn our mental discourse into spoken discourse, our train of thoughts into a train of words. This offers two benefits. First, we can record how our thoughts follow from one another. We easily forget those connections and then have to work them out again, but words used to mark them allow us to recall them. So names first serve as marks, or aids to memory. Second, when several people use the same words, their order and connections let them communicate what each thinks about a subject, and also what each wants, fears, or feels through another Passion. For this purpose, words are called signs. Speech has four particular uses. First, we record the causes of present or past things that we discover by thinking, and the effects that present or past things may produce. In short, this is how we acquire practical knowledge. Second, we show others what we have learned: we advise and teach one another. Third, we tell others our wishes and purposes so that we can help one another. Fourth, we harmlessly please and entertain ourselves and others by playing with words for enjoyment or decoration.

These four uses have four corresponding abuses. First, people record their thoughts wrongly when the meanings of their words shift. They then record as their ideas things they never conceived, and so deceive themselves. Second, they use words metaphorically, with meanings other than their intended ones, and so deceive others. Third, they use words to claim they want something they do not want. Fourth, they use words to hurt one another. Nature has armed some living creatures with teeth, some with horns, and some with hands to hurt an enemy. Using the tongue to hurt an enemy is an abuse of speech, unless we have a duty to govern that person. In that case, the aim is not to hurt but to correct and improve.

Speech helps us remember how causes and effects follow one another by giving things names and connecting those names.

Some names are proper and refer to just one thing, such as Peter, John, this man, and this tree. Others are common to many things, such as man, horse, and tree. Each is a single name, but it names several individual things. In relation to all of them together it is called universal. Only names are universal in the world. Every thing named is individual and particular.

We apply one universal name to many things because they resemble one another in some quality or other property. A proper name brings to mind just one thing, but a universal name can bring to mind any of the many things it names.

Some universal names cover more things and some fewer. The broader names include the narrower ones, while some names cover exactly the same things and include each other. For example, body has a broader meaning than man and includes it. Man and rational have the same range and include each other. But note that a name does not always mean just one word, as it does in grammar. Sometimes several words together make one name. All these words, “the person who follows the laws of his country in his actions,” form one name equivalent to the single word “just.”

Giving names broader or narrower meanings changes the way we work out the consequences of things we imagine. It becomes a way of working out the consequences of names instead. For example, a person who cannot use speech at all, having been born and remained completely deaf and unable to speak, might see a triangle beside two right angles, like the corners of a square. By thinking about them, he may find that the three angles of this triangle equal those two right angles. But if someone shows him a differently shaped triangle, he cannot know whether its three angles have the same sum without working it out again. Someone who can use words notices that this equality depends not on the lengths of the triangle's sides or on any other particular feature, but only on its straight sides and its three angles—the very features that make him call it a triangle. He can then confidently conclude that the equality applies to every triangle. He records his discovery in general terms: “Every triangle has three angles equal to two right angles.” A conclusion found in a single case is thus recorded and remembered as a universal rule. We no longer have to do the mental calculation again for every time and place. Apart from the first effort, the mind is spared the work. What was found true here and now becomes true at all times and in all places.

The value of words for recording our thoughts is nowhere clearer than in counting. A person with a natural intellectual disability who has never learned the order of number words, such as one, two, and three, may notice every strike of a clock, nod at each, or say “one, one, one.” But he can never know what hour it strikes. There seems to have been a time before number words existed, when people had to use the fingers of one or both hands to count things. Perhaps this explains why the words for numbers run only to ten in every nation, and in some nations only to five, before they start again. Even someone who knows how to count to ten will lose track and not know when he has finished if he says the words out of order. Still less can he add, subtract, or carry out other operations of arithmetic. Without words, then, counting numbers is impossible, much less measuring size, speed, force, and the other things that must be calculated if humankind is to survive or thrive.

When two names are joined to form a consequence or statement, as in “A man is a living creature” or “If he is a man, he is a living creature,” the statement or consequence is true if the second name, living creature, refers to everything the first name, man, refers to. Otherwise it is false. True and false describe speech, not things. Where there is no speech, there is neither truth nor falsehood. There can be error, as when we expect something that will not happen or suspect something happened when it did not. But in neither case can we accuse a person of saying something untrue.