On Feb 23, 2013, at 3:39 PM, Rich Cooper wrote: (01)
Simon Spero wrote:
> the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be
>organized by our minds—and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our
>minds. (02)
Does it mean that? I find this claim to be highly doubtful, myself. I have, at
many times in my life, had to think and act while my mental linguistic system
was not functioning at all, and found that my thinking was unimpaired by a
temporary (epilepsy-induced) total aphasia. But in any case, this idea that
thought somehow *is* language seems unlikely on a variety of grounds. I know I
am not alone in being able to think many thoughts that I find it hard to utter
in language - in some cases, impossible to do so. Why would this be true, if
thought simply were language, or if it used the "linguistic system" in our
minds? Again, I can often time-share thinking and language use, for example
following a chain of thought while listening to spoken instructions or even
holding a conversation. And, it is known that linguistic functionality is
localized to comparatively small areas of the cortex (the left temporal and
prefronal lobes), so if our minds *are* the linguistic system in our minds,
what is the rest of this (biologically very expensive) neural tissue for? (03)
Does Spero give any evidence for this very strong, and I think extremely
implausible, claim that it is our mental linguistic system which provides the
categories for thought? (04)
Pat Hayes (05)
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