Words and Behavior questions

1. Recall: According to Huxley what is the main reason why people use language inappropriately when discussing war
2. Recall: What does Huxley find “absurd and monstrous” about war?
3. Clarify: According to Huxley in lines 237-243, why do politicians often use inappropriate language (lines 237-243 is highlighted in yellow)
4. Analyze an Argument: Review your notes on the reasons and evidence that Huxley offers in the essay. What do you consider the strongest support for his claim that inappropriate use of langue allows people to deceive themselves and others about the true nature of war? Explain your answer.
5. Draw Conclusion About Deductive Reasoning: In his statement of the p remise on which he bases his deductive reasoning, Huxley says that “worlds give continuity to what we do” Why might it be especially difficult for a nation’s leaders to maintain such continuity in wartime?
6. Historical Context: Huxley wrote “Words and Behavior” in 1939 in reactions to developments in Nazi Germany and other European nations. In his essay, he warns against the manipulation of language-both by political leaders and by ordinary citizens-to justify war. To what extent do you think his observations are true today? Explain your answer.

Words and BehaviourAnswers

Words and Behavior Questions

1. Recall: According to Huxley what is the main reason why people use language inappropriately when discussing war?

When discussing war, people use language inappropriately to distort the truth since most facts about war are revolting and horrifying (Huxley, 1939). Words are used to falsify facts and to make war seem less evil so that it can be tolerated. Self-esteem preserved and people’s sensibilities protected by use of language which distorts the truth. According to Huxley (1939), the victims of war are human beings used as instruments for advancing political strategies. As such, language discussing war is specially designed to conceal the truth that war leads to the murder of innocent people. For instance, it is inappropriate to use the terms “sabers” and “rifles” instead of “cavalrymen” and “foot soldiers” as applied in most military writings.

Further, Huxley argued that personification of the language used to refer to war is an error which leads to people feeling proud of their country, and to perpetuate the belief that all misfortunes are due to the enemy. The reason for this notion is that it is easier for people to feel violently towards a person than towards an abstraction (Huxley, 1939). For instance, the combatants are personified using terms such as “the enemy” “making his plans” “his blows” among others. These examples of descriptive language support Huxley’s claim that people use language inappropriately when discussing war. According to Klemfuss, Prinzmetal, and Ivry (2012), language has a direct effect on the perceptual experience.

2. Recall: What does Huxley find “absurd and monstrous” about war?

Huxley noted that war is absurd since it makes human beings victims as well as instruments for murder. Monstrous conventions of politics lead human beings to murder or be murdered by those considered not their own, often times leading to infliction on innocent individuals. He further pointed out that war is organized mass murder leading to monstrous iniquity by the perpetrators. Since war is often chosen as an instrument of policy, it is not feasible to determine its full absurdity and wickedness (Huxley, 1939).

Huxley converted to pacifism in 1939, having experienced the negative effects of war in his time when Nazi Germany was fighting with other world powers. Pacifism is a belief that war is wrong and that it should be abolished since it is a disaster created by people against others through deliberate decisions. His views are supported by the Peace Pledge Union Project (2018) which explains that nations spend a lot of money training soldiers to fight and kill other human beings, and they devise weapons and machinery for murdering fellow human beings. War is thus absurd, wicked, and monstrous since it creates horror and fear in some people while it fascinates and 

excites others.

3. Clarify: According to Huxley in lines 237-243, why do politicians often use inappropriate language

Apart from war, politicians also use inappropriate language to conceal reality, but for different reasons. Huxley explained that politicians conceal the truth to arouse, rationalize, and justify some sentiments which are presented as pride, hatred, contempt or self-esteem. It is for this reason that politicians use words which misrepresent the facts they intend to talk about. Unlike for war, in politics, words are used to depersonalize an individual, with most propaganda targeting whole groups so as to substitute concrete persons with diabolical abstractions. By so doing, politicians use propaganda to make other people appear to be less human.

Inappropriate language is further used in politics through the misleading depersonification of human beings thereby leading to war between nations, and in some cases creating an environment of blind worship of the state without oppression from the government. In lines 237-243, Huxley applies his general principle to politics by arguing that political thought is corrupted by “personified abstractions” and “depersonified symbols” (Huxley, 1939). This principle is further strengthened in lines 280-290 where Huxley explains that self-interests lead politicians to talk of the world as if it does not have persons. Bredow and DiCioccio (2016) explained how language influences the mind in time and space, and that inappropriate use of it can lead to negative consequences such as war.

4. Analyze an Argument: Review your notes on the reasons and evidence that Huxley offers in the essay. What do you consider the strongest support for his claim that inappropriate use of language allows people to deceive themselves and others about the true nature of war? Explain your answer.

Although Huxley uses a variety of evidence to build his claim, the strongest support is the view that the language of war is specially designed through impersonal and personified abstractions to distort the reality that war is fought by individuals who murder their opponents in cold blood. Abstraction, as used in the essay, means a phenomenon which cannot be perceived by the five common senses, such as a quality or an idea. Military personifications often include collectivities such as giving names to armies or warring nations, thereby assigning attributes of an individual, thus making people love or hate them.

Moreover, the absurdity and monstrous nature of war is concealed by personification so that individuals who do not have personal differences are made to fight each other for political reasons. Huxley explains that this inappropriate use of language leads to a false perception that wars are fought by generals and not the individual soldiers in the army. People thus deceive themselves and others about the true nature of war for instance by use of euphemisms which are weaker words used in place of others to appear less offensive.

5. Draw Conclusion About Deductive Reasoning: In his statement of the premise on which he bases his deductive reasoning, Huxley says that “worlds give continuity to what we do” Why might it be especially difficult for a nation’s leaders to maintain such continuity in wartime?

Huxley’s deductive reasoning is that words influence the experiences human beings go through since, without them, life would be intermittent and spasmodic. He argues that animals do not fight as often as human beings because they do not use words like people do. Therefore, human character is based on words since it is through them that individuals express their feelings of love, hatred, anger, and ambitions. That is why Huxley noted that “words give continuity to what we do and to an extent determines our direction” (Lines 20-30). If our experiences are affected by inappropriate words which falsify facts, human egoism would lead to war. It is often difficult for leads to maintain continuity in wartime since facts about war are horrifying and revolting. Therefore, they opt to falsify facts using inappropriate words, making war seem less evil than it is in reality.

6. Historical Context: Huxley wrote “Words and Behavior” in 1939 in reactions to developments in Nazi Germany and other European nations. In his essay, he warns against the manipulation of language-both by political leaders and by ordinary citizens-to justify war. To what extent do you think his observations are true today? Explain your answer.

Huxley wrote his essay based on moral earnestness, strong rationality, intellectual honesty, and an insight which penetrates into human problems and conflicts. Although it was written at a time when Nazi Germany was in war with other nations in Europe and America, the observations contained therein are still applicable even today. Peterson (2002) gave examples of recent war scenarios in which inappropriate language was used to falsify facts. For instance, in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, the American public was not given facts about the cause, progress, and impact of the military campaigns; but instead, propaganda and personification were used. Holmqvist-Jonsater and Coker (2009) pointed out that language is important in war, especially as it can be used to isolate and confuse enemies, motivate friends and allies, as well to get the support of undecided bystanders.