The language and structure of thought

Abstract

At the beginning of the last century, in psychology, thought was, so to speak, reduced to verbal intelligence and the latter was opposed to practical intelligence. Saussure wanted to show that this thought was less the faculty of producing language than the product of an organization by language. The theory he proposes can be summed up by the fact that language gives form to thought, in other words that the functioning of language is constitutive of thought as we perceive it. Although leaving aside many questions, the Saussurian theory has the merit of overturning values thought to be acquired. And judging by the large number of textual productions commenting and analyzing the ideas presented in this research, this theory has been a constant reflection of linguists and psychologists.