THINKING IN CONCEPTS OR LANGUAGE

 

Do we think with language—or with concepts?

When I was a teenager in the States, people often asked me what language I used when thinking alone. At the time, I took it for granted that thinking meant an inner verbal dialogue—English or Spanish, depending on the day. Only later did I realize the question itself was flawed.

Curious, I recently looked online and found the usual well-meaning but muddled explanations—proof of how easily people confuse thinking with the words we use to describe it.

In Spain, interestingly, no one has ever asked me this. Instead, I have asked others: “When you think, Mr. García López, do you use words or concepts?” Most cannot answer. And that is revealing.

Consider two simple examples.

Driving down the road: A ball rolls out. Linguistic thinking: “A ball. A child must be nearby… I should brake carefully because of the tailgater behind me.” Half a minute.
Conceptual thinking: you see the ball, picture the child, sense the tailgater, and brake. Half a second.

Proposing marriage: Linguistic thinking produces drafts of little speeches—corny, revised, re-revised. Conceptual thinking gives you an image: on your knees, ring in hand. But to share the concept, you must turn it into words—carefully.

In emergencies, no one thinks in sentences: “Oh, a fire. We are in danger…” Words are slow.

So the answer is simple: we think both conceptually and linguistically, depending on the situation. David Hume already said as much in his Treatise of Human Nature: first impressions, then ideas, and only later does language enter.

As for my own inner life, I use either language, depending on the mood. Somber thoughts come in Spanish; cheerful ones often come in English. But I never mix them—an ugly habit, worse than picking your nose.

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