Doe Quote by Maurice Merleau-Ponty
“The number and richness of man's signifiers always surpasses the set of defined objects that could be termed signifieds. The symbolic function must always precede its object and does not encounter reality except when it precedes it into the imaginary...”
About This Quote
Source Book: Phenomenology of Perception, 1945
Language creates meaning before concrete objects exist; symbols shape reality, and reality only appears when mediated by imagination.
In simple terms: Words shape our world before things do.
Key Takeaway
Pay attention to how language frames perception.
Themes
language
perception
symbolism
reality
Mood
reflective
theoretical
Type
philosophical
academic
When to use this quote
- communication
- artistic creation
- media analysis
- education
Key Concepts
semiotics
phenomenology
constructionism
Questions to Reflect On
- In what ways does language limit our perception?
- Can we perceive reality without symbolic mediation?
A Different Perspective
This view may underplay the role of material conditions in shaping language.
![“No one suffers so much as he [the genius] with the people, and, therefore, for the people, with whom he lives. For, in a certain sense, it is certainly only "by suffering" that a man knows. If compassion is not itself clear, abstractly conceivable or visibly symbolic knowledge, it is, at any rate…” quote by Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bec/otto-weininger-11319_acquisition_no-one-suffers-so-much-as-he-the-genius_20597.jpg)
![“Our view of man will remain superficial so long as we fail to go back to that origin [of silence], so long as we fail to find, beneath the chatter of words, the primordial silence, and as long as we do not describe the action which breaks this silence. the spoken word is a gesture, and its…” quote by Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/74b/maurice-merleau-ponty-2834_action_our-view-of-man-will-remain-superficial_201592.jpg)
![“If the State does not acquire supremacy over [vast private] enterprises, it becomes their puppet, and they become the real State.” quote by Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bad/bertrand-russell-69_acquire_if-the-state-does-not-acquire-supremacy_1379.jpg)
