January 6, 2003

Language and the Construction of Reality

An expression often heard in a debate is "It's just semantics". This usually means "your argument is trivial because it's simply about word meanings, not about reality". However, as humans we reason about reality by using categories, and categories are expressed linguistically as words. In this sense, language is reality.

Making matters even more complex, many words in language do more than name a category: they convey an attitude. The most famous example of this is the expressions "terrorist" and "freedom fighter", which might be used by different people to refer to the same group.

Consider the following three excerpts from newspaper articles, having to do with language and the law. Are the arguments presented here about "language" or "reality"?

Court rules jumper's canopy is a parachute and illegal in parks
Salt Lake City Tribune

SALT LAKE CITY - A federal appeals court has ruled that a California cliff jumper's canopy should be considered a parachute, and as a result, is illegal in national parks...

At issue in the case are the rectangular, maneuverable parachutes known as "ram-air canopies" used in cliff jumps. The jumpers argue that because their chutes are capable of aerodynamic lift, they are actually non-powered aircraft, which are legal in park areas that are specifically designated as landing zones.

Pet politics becomes ordinance
NY Times

BERKELEY - Berkeley is famous for pet causes. So it's probably not surprising that this city - home of The Bark, a magazine on modern dog culture - recently adopted an ordinance in which pet owners are officially no longer pet owners, but pet owner/guardians.

Berkeley is the third American city to adopt a "guardian" ordinance, after Boulder, Colo., and West Hollywood. Those cities have eliminated the word "owner" altogether.

The Berkeley ordinance, adopted unanimously by the city council, ups the ante for pet owner/guardians. "The word 'guardian' really does redefine the hierarchy between human individuals and pets as living beings," said Cameron Woo, publisher of The Bark...

Rumsfeld, senators: Detainees treated well
from http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/01/27/rumsfeld.guantanamo/index.html

...Rumsfeld again addressed criticisms from some human rights groups who maintain the former Taliban and al Qaeda fighters should be classified as prisoners of war instead of "unlawful combatants," a status that exempts them from certain requirements under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

"The al Qaeda are so obviously part of a terrorist network as opposed to being part of any army," he said. "They didn't go around with uniforms, with their weapons in public display, with insignia, and behave in a manner that an army behaves in. They went around like terrorists."

U.S. officials said the detainees at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan are being treated humanely, consistent with the principles of the Geneva Conventions. However, they are not provided some protections required for prisoners of war, such as not being required to cooperate with interrogators.

Hutchison said she also believes that the detainees' treatment fulfills the spirit of the Geneva Conventions though they should not be considered as prisoners of war.

"Clearly, they are not part of an organized army," she said. "They are not legitimate prisoners of war." ...