Words and Their Complexity

We have seen before how language is a powerful tool (Gorgais) in rhetoric, but Locke takes the idea of language a step further by looking specifically at words. His whole take on words was quite intriguing since he believed “sensation, a universal human phenomenon, generates simple ideas, which are also universally the same. To these ideas we give arbitrary signs: words.” (p.815).  However, Locke brings attention to the fact that, “…it is possible to have an incomplete or inaccurate idea associated with those words. It is even possible to have an incomplete idea of something within our experience, for a word may designate, for some people, certain features of the thing signified and, for others, different features” (p. 815).

To me then, the interpretation of words could be a hindrance in rhetoric.

In rhetoric, words are used to persuade an audience, whether written or spoken, usually about a complex idea. “But when a word stands for a very complex idea that is compounded and decompounded, it is not easy for men to form and retain that idea so exactly, as to make the name in common use stand for the same precise idea, without any the least variation” (p.818, second column). “Though the names glory and gratitude be the same in every man’s mouth through a whole country, yet the complex collective idea which every one thinks on or intends by that name, is apparently very different in men using the same language” (p.819, first column). How can someone be a successful rhetorician, then, if words can mean different things to different people?

I found myself agreeing with Locke and the complexity words have because I know I have misinterpreted words (and their meanings) more than once when in conversation with someone, leading to a frustrating debate about what someone is trying to really say. So as a rhetorician, it is even more important to be aware of your audience and carefully choose words that will make you a successful rhetorician in both the public and private realm.