Berger, L: Language and the Ineffable

One's conception of language is central in fields such as linguistics, but less obviously so in fields studying matters other than language. In Language and the Ineffable Louis S. Berger demonstrates the flaws of the received view of language and the difficulties they raise in multiple disciplines. This breakthrough study sees past failures as inevitable, since reformers retained key detrimental features of the received view. Berger undertakes a new reform, grounded in an unconventional model of individual human development. A central radical and generative feature is the premise that the neonate's world is holistic, boundary-less, unimaginable, impossible to describe_in other words, ineffable_completely distinct from what Berger calls 'adultocentrism.' The study is a wholly original approach to epistemology, separate from the traditional interpretations offered by skepticism, idealism, and realism. The work rejects both the independence of the world and the possibility of true judgment_a startling shift in the traditional responses to the standard schema. Language and the Ineffable evolves a unique conception of language that challenges and unsettles sacrosanct beliefs, not only about language, but other disciplines as well. Berger demonstrates the framework's potential for elucidating a wide range of problems in such diverse fields as philosophy, logic, psychiatry, general-experimental psychology, psychotherapy, and arithmetic. The reconceptualization marks a revolutionary turn in language studies that reaches across academic boundaries.

The prevailing conception of language is often called 'the received view.' Though ubiquitous, Louis S. Berger demonstrates its flaws and the difficulties it raises for other disciplines, such as philosophy and physics. In Language and the Ineffable, Berger develops an unconventional model of human development: ontogenesis. A radical and generative feature of the model is the premise that the neonate's world is holistic, boundary-less, unimaginable, and impossible to describe; in other words, ineffable. This study unsettles the foundations of sacrosanct beliefs about language and a host of other disciplines in the process.

Chapter 1 PrefaceChapter 2 Chapter One. Background and RationaleChapter 3 Chapter Two. The Received View of LanguageChapter 4 Chapter Three. Varieties of IneffabilityChapter 5 Chapter Four. Ontogenesis, Nonduality, First Language AcquisitionChapter 6 Chapter Five. What Language Is and Does: The Tier 1 FrameworkChapter 7 Chapter Six. Application 1: Psychiatry, General-Experimental Psychology, PsychotherapyChapter 8 Chapter Seven. Application 2: Logic, MathematicsChapter 9 Postlude