2.66
Relatedly, we need to be careful with the words we use. It’s not inconsequential to call a tree lumber or timber.[1] These aren’t just ways of speaking. They show how things are revealed to us. And yet, prior to and enabling such interpretations are occasions when we call a tree a tree, where variations are mere deviations from the basis of ‘tree.’ A tree is a tree is a tree; each and every tree is a tree. A general fungibility and indifference reigns. So, responsibility involves attentiveness to words.
Concepts can be disrupted by paying attention to phenomena. They’re ruptured by a thing’s calling, which reveals a new conceptualness.
We need responsive ways of speaking, attending, acting, and responding. Otherwise, our comportment may preclude a deeper relationality with things.
[1] Or humans human resources or human capital.