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American Quarterly.
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PETER C. ROLLINS
OklahomaState University,
Stillwater
The WhorfHypothesis
as a Critiqueof Western
Scienceand Technology
BENJAMIN LEE WHORF
S NAME IS ASSOCIATED
WITH A THEORY
OF LINGUISTIC
relativitywhichis knownby various titles-"the Sapir-WhorfHypothesis," "the WhorfHypothesis,""the Whorf-LeeHypothesis."Simple culstates thateveryhumanbeingis bornintoa culturalmilieu
tural relativity
whichdetermineswhat elementsof the worldwillbe importantto the individual by its methods of child rearing and cultural reinforcement.
Whorf'sparticularadditionto this principleof culturalrelativitywas his
assertionof the primacyof languagein thisprocess of selection.In a famous quotationfromhis article "Science and Linguistics,"Whorfstates
thispositionsuccinctly:
The categories
We dissectnaturealonglineslaiddownbyournativelanguages.
we do notfindtherebeandtypesthatwe isolatefromtheworldofphenomena
theworldis precause theystareeveryobserverin theface;on thecontrary,
byour
fluxof impressions
whichhas to be organized
sentedin a kaleidoscopic
in our minds.We cut
systems
minds-andthismeanslargelybythelinguistic
as we do,largely
natureup,organizeit intoconcepts,and ascribesignificances
toorganizeitinthisway-an agreement
becausewearepartiesto an agreement
in thepatterns
and is codified
of
thatholdsthroughout
our speechcommunity
andunstatedone,BUT
ourlanguage.The agreement
is, of course,an implicit
ITS TERMS ARE ABSOLUTELY OBLIGATORY; we cannottalkat all exandclassification
ofdatawhichtheagreeto theorganization
ceptbysubscribing
mentdecrees.'
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sunbiggerand
withtherushofbrothboilingover;nowan enlarging
expanding
thatsun and its planets.The nebula
hotterthantheold sun,nowenveloping
it flashesintopurelight.Whenthat
becomesrectilinear;
explodes;all itsenergy
blastof energyreachestheneareststarstheylikewiseexpandand exmighty
of
outposts
fromstarto starto thefarthest
is propagated
plode;thedisturbance
I
andbodiless
lightis allthatremains.
theuniverse,
The Ruler of the Universe,BenjaminLee Whorf'sattack upon the easy
conscienceof secular, modernman closes withthisvisionof the beautiful
in judgmentto
universewhichGod created,but man perverted,returning
its preformed
stateofchaos.
BenjaminWhorfbegan his studyof language in 1924,the same year in
whichhe completed The Ruler of the Universe. In his introductionto
Whorf'scollected papers, JohnCarroll admits that "Whorf'sinterestin
linguisticsstemmed from one in religion," but Carroll is extremely
apologetic about this nexus.12Carroll sees it as a youthfuleccentricity
which Whorfoutgrewonce he came into contact withmature levels of
scholarship.
Whorf'sfirstexposureto the studyof languagecame throughthe works
of an early 19th centuryFrench Theosophist,Antoine Fabre d'Olivet.
Whorfwas excitedby Fabre d'Olivet's hieraticuse of linguisticsto "translate" the biblical account of creation.Studentsof Whorfhave discussed
Whorf'sresponseto Fabre d'Olivet the linguist,but nothinghas been said
to date about Whorf'sinterestin Theosophy.TheosophyattractedWhorf
because it promised to help him throwoff the oppressive doctrineof
original sin which had been so central to his novel and its critiqueof
modernity.At the same time,it allowed him to sustainthe reconciliation
of science withreligionwhichhe had achieved in The Ruler of the Uniaffirmation
of the
verse: Theosophyseemed to offera nondenominational
powersof religiousperception;Theosophyalso seemed to be up-to-datein
its readingof the physicaland psychologicalsciences, withoutlosingthe
abilityto integratethesenewinsightswiththeaspirationsofthe soul.13
The worksof FrederickMax Muller broadenedand refinedthe interest
"Whorf,Ruler,p. 205.
"2John
B. Carroll,"Introduction,"LTR, p. 7.
'3Whorf'sinterestin the occult as a substitutefor traditionalChristianitywas not as
insular as it mightat firstappear. For an autobiographydescribingsuch a conversionto
Theosophy by a man who (conveniently)was a spiritualmentor to Whorf,see Claude
Bragdon,More Lives Than One (New York: Knopf,1938). For a discussionof the attractions
and beliefsof occultismin an age of science, see The Occult. Studies and Evaluations,ed.
Robert Galbreath (BowlingGreen, Ohio: BowlingGreen Univ. Press, 1972). This pamphlet
is also incorporatedas a supplementtoJournalofPopular Culture,5 (1971), 627-754.
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while I take them as the sine qua non of thought,as embodiedin lan-
guage."16
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Westernculturessaw more,thenWesternersmustswallowtheirprideand
listen.
Edward Sapir was both intellectuallyand aesthetically fascinated
withthe process by whichlanguage becomes a symbolicsystemcharacterizedby an autonomyand creativityof its own. Sapir likenedthis ever
greater autonomyto a pyramid"called civilization."The pyramidof
civilizationwas distinctlyseparate fromraw experience.Carryingout the
implicationsof his metaphorof civilizationas a man-made monument,
Sapir notedwithsome pridethat "in thisstructure,veryfewbrickstouch
theground."22
Sapir believedthat "a speech sound is not merelyan articulationof an
acoustic image, but material for symbolicexpressionin an appropriate
linguisticcontext."23Prepared as Whorf was to look for patterns in
natureand language,it is no surprisethathe would rememberthat Sapir
emphasizedthe "necessityof gettingbehindthe sense data of any typeof
feltand communicatedforms
expressionin order to grasp the intuitively
"24
In his unpublished
which alone give significanceto such expression.
"Outlineof the Historyof Linguistics,"WhorfnotesthatSapir's "untimely
integrated
deathin 1939preventedhis makingthedirectand overwhelming
statementthat would have eventuallycome."25It probablyneed not be
said that BenjaminWhorfbelieved that his linguisticrelativityprinciple
integrated
of what Sapir's "overwhelming
was a veryclose approximation
statement"wouldhave been.
The Sapir-Whorfrelationshipis extremelyproblematic.A-sDell Hymes
has noted,"thereis no pointor publicationin his career thatcan be safely
taken as representing
'Sapir's view.' Sapir's viewof the relationbetween
was a conlanguage and culture,between linguisticsand anthropology,
tinuouslychangingone."26 It cannot be denied that Sapir (duringone of
his many phases) demonstratedenoughinterestin correlationsbetween
prinlanguageand cultureto promptmanyto name thelinguisticrelativity
ciple the "Sapir-WhorfHypothesis."27Nevertheless,much evidencecan
be adduced to provethatSapir sharedBoas' viewthatwhilelanguagesmay
lack certainconcepts,theyare creativesystemswhichcan be manipulated
22"Sound Patterns in Language," Selected Writingsof Edward Sapir on Language,
Culture,and Personality,ed. David G. Mandelbaum (Berkeley:Univ. of Calif. Press, 1968).
HereafterSelected Writings.
23Sapir,p. 44.
24Whorf,
"Outline . ..," doc. #1,App. B, RollinsThesis,p. 6.
25Ibid.,p. 6.
26Hymes,"Linguistic Method in Ethnography,"p. 268. For views of the evolutionof
Sapir's thoughtwhichuse the same elements,but arrangethemintodifferent
configurations,
contrastHymes(above, pp. 258-68) withRollinsThesis,pp. 231-74.
27Thelocus classicus for this interpretation
is Sapir, "The Status of Linguisticsas a
Science," inSelected Writings,
pp. 160-66.
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They are
answeris: Newtonianspace, time,and matterare no intuitions.
Thatis whereNewtongotthem.39
andlanguage.
culture
receptsfrom
Given his dual insightsinto the related issues of linguisticstructureand
physics,Whorf's conclusion is that the Western mind must seek new
means of articulation:"But whatlies outside thisspiral?Science is beginningto findthat there is somethingin the Cosmos that is not in accord
withthe concepts we have formedin mountingthe spiral. It is tryingto
framea NEW LANGUAGE by whichto adjust itselfto a wider audience."40
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themselves
malleableonlybysimilar
things,
bymorematter,
andhenceinsulated
fromthepowersoflifeandthought.
It is nomoreunnatural
tothink
thatthought
contactseverything
and pervadestheuniverse
thanto think,
as we all do, that
lightkindled
outdoors
doesthis.Anditis notunnatural
to supposethatthought,
likeanyotherforce,
leaveseverywhere
tracesofeffect.51
After demonstratingin specific terms Hopi's superiorityas both a
scientific
and religiouslanguage,Whorfsteps back to generalizeabout the
resultingattitudeof the Hopi civilizationtoward the mysteriesof the
universe.The Ruler of the Universehad describedwithluriddetail how
the Westernmindhad pervertedthe active forcesin nature.In the novel,
however,man's immersionin originalsin had been seen as the rootcause
of his perversity.In these articleson language,Whorf'scritiqueof SAE
formsa basis fora somewhatdifferent
criticism:the "binomialism"which
has shaped Westernconceptionsof "matter" and "time" has also inured
Westernman to the depths of mysterywhichsurroundhim. Using field
reportsfromhis casebook as an industrialfireinsuranceinspector,Whorf
seeks to provehowinsensitive
Westernmanhas become.Our rigidlanguage
structurehas helped us to establish a sense of "routine" in the vast
mysteriesof timeand space. Our languagehas also givenus an inordinate
capacity to manipulateintellectualconcepts and material objects. But
the West has been forcedto pay a highprice forits special powersin the
formof emotionalpovertyand an almostcompleteloss of a poetic-religious
senseofwonder.
In contrast,the Hopi culturehas preserveda relationshipbetweenman
and nature(as well as betweenman and man) whichserves as a pointed
contrastto thesocial worlddescribedby The Rulerof the Universe:
set of
In Hopi history... we .. . finda different
typeof language and a different
A peacefulagricultural
culturaland environmental
influences
working
together.
features
and nomadenemiesin a landof scanty
societyisolatedbygeographic
thatcould be made successfulonlyby the utmost
rainfall,arid agriculture
perseverance
(hence the value of persistenceand repetition),
necessityfor
and on mental
of teamwork
collaborations
(henceemphasison thepsychology
ofvalue,needofextensive
criteria
factorsingeneral),cornandrainas primary
to assurecropsin thepoorsoil and prePREPARATIONS and precautions
cariousclimate,keen realization
of dependence
uponnaturefavoring
prayer
andreligion
anda religious
attitude
towardtheforcesofnature,
especially
prayer
directedtowardthe ever-needed
blessing,rain-these thingsinteractwith
Hopi linguistic
patternsto moldthem,to be moldedagainby them,and so
littlebylittletoshapetheHopiworld-outlook.52
5"Ibid.,p. 149.
52Ibid.,p. 157.
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