Against Ineffability

James Conlon

Against Ineffability

Article

15/2 - Fall 2010, pages 381-400

Date of online publication: 20 décembre 2010

Date of publication: 20 décembre 2010

Abstract

It is a commonplace assumption that there are realities and types of experience words are just not able to handle. I find the recourse to ineffability to be an evasive tactic and argue that there is inherently nothing beyond words and that this fact has ethical implications. I offer three theoretical considerations in support of my claim. The first two deal with the infinite nature of language itself, as understood first in Chomsky and then Derrida. The third deals with the linguistically structured nature of human experience. Expanding on Heidegger, I then draw some ethical implications from language’s inexhaustibility.

Keywords

Cite this article

Conlon, James. “Against Ineffability.” Forum Philosophicum 15, no. 2 (2010): 381–400. doi:10.35765/forphil.2010.1502.26.

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