Thinkers on language
These thinkers will provide you with brilliant insights into the world, and help you to consolidate your understanding of knowledge & language.
You can also draw on their ideas to support the discussions within your exhibition commentary, and add depth and authority to the assertions you make about knowledge. To explore them in more detail, consult our Knowledge Heroes resource.
Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
Gilbert Highet (1906 – 1978)
Highet was a Scottish American classicist, writer, critic, and historian of literature. He is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore how language develops over time.
Erin McKean (b. 1971)
McKean is an American lexicographer. She is a founder of Reverb, which makes the online dictionary Wordnik. She is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore who and what represents authority when it comes to grammar and language.
John McWhorter (b. 1965)
McWhorter is an American linguist, and associate professor of English and literature at Columbia University, where he teaches linguistics, American studies, philosophy, and music history. He is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore how language is driven forward by technology.
George Orwell (1903 – 1950)
Orwell was the author of (among many other things) Animal Farm and 1984. In many ways, he is the ‘patron saint of TOK’, because of his huge range of ideas on so many different topics. He is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore the relationship between language and knowledge.
Steven Pinker (b. 1954)
Pinker, a Harvard professor, is one of the best known popular science writers in the world, and his books on psychology have sold millions of copies. He is one of our knowledge heroes, helping us to explore whether we can measure whether society is improving over time.
Edward Sapir (1884 – 1939)
Sapir was an American linguist, who was a key figure in the development of linguistic determinism. He is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore the relationship between language and knowledge.
William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore how language develops over time.
Kory Stamper
Stamper is a lexicographer and former associate editor for Merriam-Webster dictionaries. She is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore the difference between prescriptive and descriptive approaches to language.
Benjamin Whorf (1897 – 1941)
Whorf was an American linguist and engineer. Whorf helped to promote the idea of linguistic determinism. He is one of our knowledge heroes, appearing in the BQ lessons to help us to explore the relationship between knowledge and language.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 – 1951)
Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher of mathematics, language, and the mind. He is one of our knowledge heroes, and appears in the BQ lessons to help us explore the relationship between knowledge and language.
Make full use of this content in the classroom!
Knowledge Heroes enables you to link these thinkers to the course. For each thinker, you’ll find a notable quote, a description of how their ideas relate to TOK, an associated exhibition prompt, and activities and media sources to explore their work. Access the resource here.
Many of the key thinkers make regular appearances in our TOK newsletter. This helps you to make sense of the most important events going on today, and grasp how TOK concepts manifest in the real world. Read a recent edition here, subscribe to the free version here, and gain access to the premium version by joining theoryofknowledge.net.