I think it was a handicap for me being brought up in an non-intellectual environment. One thing that characterised that environment was its sloppy relationship with language. Like most under-educated types the folks around me tended to speak in platitudes which they understood to represent fixed absolutes. I think this habit developed in them attitudes not amenable to change or alternative possibilities. There was a kind of sophistry around every issue which blurred clarity of thought.

When Wittgenstein talked of the “bewitchment of our intelligence by way of language” he could have pointed to my people. Their language structures were so entrenched they had come to accept everything contained in the words as true. When Hume pointed out the problems of logical induction he could have used my background as exemplar. Here, one example was sufficient for making a generalisation. No gathering of evidence with a view to building a case was required. Considered reflection was meaningless. A complete wash-out for development and self knowledge.