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The connection between ideology, reason, knowledge, and language is discussed by many researchers because of the necessity to look at the role of relations between knowledge and language as the specific social power. These relations are discussed by Gary Peller within the social context, and the author states that knowledge, truth, objectivity, and reason can be considered as the victory in relation to the specific way of representing the world because people discuss these aspects as the truth without any interpretation.
This approach means the power of the tools used to represent the world as the absolute truth. To understand that this absence of interpretation is the result of using ideological tools and language and that culture and politics are closely connected with language and knowledge, it is necessary to refer to the works by Louis Althusser, Robert Ardrey, Kenneth Burke, Jeanne Gunner, and Doug Sweet.
Focusing on Peller’s idea, it is possible to note that people refer to truth, knowledge, and reason without interpretation because of the cultural and ideological impacts. Thus, Althusser pays much attention to the role of ideologies for forming the opinion or possible interpretation, and he states that the school, church, and army can teach ‘know-how’, “but in forms which ensure subjection to the ruling ideology or the mastery of its ‘practice’” (Althusser par. 23).
To add more vividness to the stated idea, Althusser continues that “Schools and Churches use suitable methods of punishment, expulsion, selection, etc., to ‘discipline’ not only their shepherds, but also their flocks” (Althusser par. 38). Focusing on Althusser’s statements, it is possible to state that knowledge and objectivity mentioned by Peller are only the perceptions formed with references to the ruling ideology, and this is the victory of the approach because people become forced to perceive the reality ‘objectively’.
The victory of the particular way to see the world associated with the notions of truth, knowledge, and reason depends on the large cultural and ideological lens, as it is stated by Gunner and Sweet. The success of such perceptions is based on the simple idea proclaimed by the authors that “the language we use shapes the stories we tell” (Gunner and Sweet 165).
In the next sentences, Gunner and Sweet provide the explanation to their simple and effective idea while stating that the process is ideological, and “by using language, we are automatically applying a particular lens that tells us how to see events, how to understand and judge them. Our view of our lives and the world at large is thus mediated by language” (Gunner and Sweet 165).
From this point, the representation of the world can be discussed as true because of the people’s reliance on lens and language shaped by ideology. Gunner and Sweet also state that the language style “is not separate from ideas” (Gunner and Sweet 180). Thus, language, knowledge, and ideology are closely connected, as it was stated earlier.
If Gunner and Sweet discuss the ideology as the specific lens to speak about the world and reality, Burke uses the idea of a color filter used in photography. Thus, Burke states that a photograph can reveal differences in form and texture, “depending upon which color filter was used for the documentary description of the event being recorded” (Burke 45).
This metaphor can be discussed as rather successful to represent the role of terms as filters for telling the story in order to guarantee its interpretation as the true one. Referring to the role of language and terms, Burke states that “the terms direct the attention to one field rather than to another”, thus, our observations of the world and reality are directly dependent on “our particular choice of terms” (Burke 46).
Thus, any terms necessarily “constitute a corresponding kind of screen” (Burke 50). While discussing the Peller’s statement, it is important to refer to Burke’s vision of the ‘screens’ made by terms because these screens, as well as Gunner and Sweet’s lens, make people perceive the stories told in relation to the history, economy, and social development as the truth because the victory is in using the effective linguistic tools. This approach is rational.
To look at the question from the other perspective, it is necessary to refer to Ardrey’s idea of anti-rational power used in the society. Thus, Ardrey claims that “conscience in human society becomes an essentially anti-rational power”, however, “conscience must exist in one form only, my own” (Ardrey 351). This statement supports the idea that ideology, knowledge, and reason work because they are widely accepted and function as people’s own perceptions and interpretations.
That is why, having examined the works by Louis Althusser, Robert Ardrey, Kenneth Burke, Jeanne Gunner, and Doug Sweet, it is possible to note that the authors’ arguments support the idea developed by Peller who is inclined to focus on the correlation between knowledge, reason, truth, and language as the important forces in the society.
The key to the victory is in the specific way of representing the world, and linguistic tools provide people with the opportunity to guarantee the expected perception of the reason, knowledge, and truth.
Works Cited
Althusser, Louis. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. n.d. Web.
Ardrey, Robert. African Genesis: A Personal Investigation Into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man. USA: McGill-Queen’s Press – MQUP, 1963. Print.
Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. USA: University of California Press, 1966. Print.
Gunner, Jeanne, and Doug Sweet. Grounds for Writers: Critical Perspectives for Reading. USA: Longman Publishing Group, 2007. Print.
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