Beyond Language

“This Heraclitean-like exploration of language, time, science, relationship, law, and transcendence—written in succinct prose capped with spare, arresting poetry—will lead a reader to self-reflection and to an enriched awareness of reality’s elemental but expansive force. The author’s generous humanity evinces—and evokes—a sense of gratitude ‘for all that is.’”


—Patrick Jordan, managing editor emeritus, Commonweal





“Walker fought in Vietnam, completed his PhD in philosophy, trained and practiced law in New York, and retired to work pro bono on behalf of social justice. Beyond Language is his first excursion into literature and poetry. Its key theme is that literature and fine art enable us to explore the limits of the verbal pathways we construct to communicate as social beings, and thereby to understand what exists beyond language. The book itself is an artistic accomplishment.”


—K. Sayre, professor emeritus, University of Notre Dame





“Part philosophy of language, part deep personal meditation, Beyond Language is a profound and sensitive exploration of the omnipresence and potency of words. Words define us personally and communally. Through words we encounter systems of law and worlds of artistic expression. Walker teaches us that only through words can we grasp what it is to be human and to seek to approach the infinite.”


—Frederick M. Lawrence, secretary and CEO, The Phi Beta Kappa Society, and distinguished lecturer, Georgetown University Law Center





“As a philosopher, law professor, and researcher in artificial intelligence, Vern Walker has examined more closely than most how we use language to perform real work in the world. In this fascinating book, Professor Walker extends his view beyond language. Combining poetic expression and analytic prose in this work of experience, knowledge, and beauty, he employs ‘language to demonstrate the limitations of language,’ the most important work language can perform.”


—Kevin D. Ashley, author of Artificial Intelligence and Legal Analytics: New Tools for Law Practice in the Digital Age