Volume 17, Number 11 · December 30, 1971
The Sweet Style of Ernest Hemingway
By Paul Goodman
It is an exaggeration to say that the language determines the metaphysics of the tribe and what people can think—the so-called 'Whorfian hypothesis.' Language is checked by unverbalized experience. Language itself is plastic and says new things when necessary. People do manage to communicate across the barrier of language and culture, e.g., I get something out of Homer, Genesis, and Confucius. And in the problems of philosophy, we can usually think away the language of previous thinkers and still find a real problem for ourselves.
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