שפה מדעית וחינוך – דבר והיפוכו )איפכא מסתברא(

Since the classical period until the present postmodern period, philosophy and science have shared a common denominator, namely, the desire to achieve the certain "absolute truth". This connection between them is one of the central characteristics of Western culture. As can be learned from linguistic research, a close relationship exists between characteristics of thinking and culture on the one hand and the language that expresses them on the other. This article briefly presents characteristics of Western thinking and characteristics of the English language that has expressed this thinking during most of the modern period – a language whose strength derives from the status of academia in Western culture. I contend that the postmodern period necessitates a fundamental change in the characteristics of scientific thinking as well as in the academic language that expresses it. The need for change is exacerbated as a result of "the powerful contradiction" that has formed between positivist scientific thinking and the academic language on the one hand and the requisite educational meaning on the other. Not only does the continued hegemony of positivist thinking and the academic language harm the development of post-Newtonian science, but it augurs extremely ill for the humanities and social sciences in general and educational practice in particular.