STUDY BOOK The power of language and actions, the basis for
COACHING: El poder del lenguaje y las acciones
Of language, we can only go round and round within it in an indeterminate number of possible turns. There is no way out of the labyrinth of language. All these judgements lay the foundations for a judgement that is the mainstay of all forms of coexistence with others: the judgement of trust . Without trust I have no chance of building a stable relationship with others. Without trust, relationships as a couple, relationships with our parents and children, relationships at work, relationships in business, relationships between pupils and teachers, and so on, are undermined. No human relationship can develop properly without trust. Well, this condition, which is essential for our life and for the possibilities in it, results from a judgement we make about others (and which others, in turn, make about us). Given the recursive capacity of language, we can even speak of self-confidence, or the confidence we have in ourselves. As an expression of a judgement, confidence is a strictly linguistic phenomenon. It is only insofar as we are linguistic beings and, in this capacity, beings who can make judgements, that confidence as a phenomenon is constituted. If we accept that trust is constituted on the basis of a judgement, what kind of judgement are we alluding to? In order to investigate this question, it is perhaps convenient to start from those particular judgements that are related to the commitments we make when we speak, when we perform the different linguistic acts. For if we see all these judgements as associated with the phenomenon of trust, it may well be that they at least clear the way for us to reach a unitary understanding of trust as a phenomenon. Let us briefly re-examine, therefore, the different linguistic acts. Let us look at assertions. Will we be trusted by someone who is characterized by making false assertions? Will we be willing to take action on the basis of assertions provided by such a person? Can we therefore argue that there is a relationship between making untrue assertions and trust? In the same way, So, will we have confidence in
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European Open Business School
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