Benjamin Lee Whorf

✶April 24, 1897

†July 26, 1941

1 candle burning, 5 lit in all

About their life

Benjamin Atwood Lee Whorf was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer best known for his advocacy of linguistic relativity. He believed that the structures of different languages shape how their speakers perceive and conceptualize the world. Whorf saw this idea, with influence from his mentor Edward Sapir, as having implications similar to those of Einstein's principle of physical relativity. However, the concept originated from 19th-century philosophy and thinkers like Wilhelm von Humboldt and Wilhelm Wundt.

American linguist (1897–1941)

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Biography from the article Benjamin Lee Whorf on the English Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.