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Benjamin Whorf [1897-1941] American
Rank: 102
Scientist


Benjamin Lee Whorf was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer. Whorf is widely known as an advocate for the idea that differences between the structures of different languages shape how their speakers perceive and conceptualize the world.


QuoteTagsRank
Language is not simply a reporting device for experience but a defining framework for it.
101
At the same time, new concepts and abstractions flow into the picture, taking up the task of describing the universe without reference to such time or space - abstractions for which our language lacks adequate terms.
102
My analysis was directed toward purely physical conditions, such as defective wiring, presence of lack of air spaces between metal flues and woodwork, etc., and the results were presented in these terms.
103
But in due course it became evident that not only a physical situation qua physics, but the meaning of that situation to people, was sometimes a factor, through the behavior of people, in the start of a fire.
104
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native language.
105
Most metaphysical words in Hopi are verbs, not nouns as in European languages.
106
Too long has the public mind considered religion to be synonymous with priestcraft.
107

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