| > Long boring sentences OMG Willard Quine! I was told he was an excellent writer. I accept that his reasoning/arguments were very lucid; I did not find his writing lucid. > our language is lacking in clarity I take it you mean English. English is highly allusive and ambiguous. Many words that mean completely different things are spelled the same. Many concepts are referred to by severaal different words, typically imported from different languages, and carrying different connotations. It's a wonderful language for describing things, but not so good for pinning things down. There's a reason that the language of International Law is French (and just because you speak French, that doesn't mean you have to write like Foucault). German is a pretty matter-of-fact language, very well-suited to philosophical discourse. If I read someone like Fred Ayer, I have the sense that it would have been easier to understand him if he wrote in German. Wittgenstein's Tractatus I have only ever read in English; but it was originally in German, and even though the Tractatus is more difficult than Ayer, I find it hugely more lucid. |
Absolutely.
> and ambiguous
extremely rarely.
> Many words that mean completely different things are spelled the same
Homographs are rarely a problem precisely because they generally mean completely different things. Inelegant, sure.
> Many concepts are referred to by severaal different words, typically imported from different languages, and carrying different connotations.
Mostly true, but the richness of English vocabulary is the exact opposite of a problem. When you need to distinguish between shades of meaning, having more words available is useful. English doesn't have the problems of using the same word for 'high' and 'tall'; or for 'pasta', 'paste', and 'dough'; or for 'pen' and 'feather'. Loneliness and solitude really are distinguishable states.