“Passwords” and “concepts” in religious speech (philosophical and linguistic analysis)
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The article distinguishes two modes of using words and expressions in religious speech and, accordingly, two forms of words and expressions: “passwords” and “concepts”. Password mode is used to request and demonstrate a believer's commitment to their religious community. The conceptual mode is used to expand, correct, and clarify religious teachings. In password mode, uttering the statement “God exists” means for those listening that the speaker belongs to a certain community (for example, a community of believers). In the conceptual mode, the statement “God exists” is a proposition that entails the need for argumentation. The distinction between “passwords” and “concepts” is compared with the main provisions of the theory of speech acts by the representative of analytical philosophy J. Austin, as well as with the philosophical and linguistic concept of the dialogist O. Rosenstock-Huessy. Although no analogue of “passwords” is found in analytical philosophy, the latter can be correlated with performatives (since they establish membership in a community), as well as with the illocutionary and perlocutionary levels of a speech act, since they are recognized only at the level of the speaker’s intentions, and not based on the grammatical forms. Based on the concept of O. Rosenstock-Huessy, it is shown that the password regime is historically primary and socioculturally fundamental. Essentially, names (which Rosenstock-Huessy considered to be the primary linguistic forms) are “passwords” that give the individual a place in the tribal collective. At the same time, the fullness of sociocultural life requires other forms of speech that provide other social functions, among which is the expansion of knowledge about reality. Therefore, the neighborhood of “passwords” and “concepts” is a necessary component of the speech activity of developed societies. The final part of the article suggests that the mutual transition of “passwords” and “concepts” is associated with missionary speech practice. Leaving the confines of his religious community, the preacher is forced to use familiar “passwords” as “concepts” for his audience, for example, to prove the existence of God, while the recognition of the existence of God (“belief in God”) is the password for access to the religious community. The conclusion shows the importance of distinguishing between “passwords” and “concepts” in modern religious speech practices.
Source: St Tikhon s University Review
Author: Dmitriy Javorskiy
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W6905662027
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