What are the links between language and thought? Could we have the same thoughts if we didn't have the ability to speak? Do the words at our disposal encourage us to see the world from a particular angle? Do we think differently in French, Russian or Chinese? Or are these languages merely communication devices for our mental representations, which remain independent of language?
Contemporary cognitive science is providing new answers to these classic questions. The 2020-2021 lecture has brought together data from disciplines such as ethology, psychology, cognitive anthropology and brain imaging, in order to analyze the possible influence exerted by the language we speak on our mental representations, at both perceptual and conceptual levels.