This new thread is intended to
consider the symbol grounding problem in symbolic systems.
PG wrote:
Another
problem for the symbolic approach is highlighted by Harnad.14 He asks the
following
questions: “How can the semantic interpretation of a formal symbol system
be
made intrinsic
to the system, rather than just parasitic on the meanings in our heads? How
can
the meanings of the meaningless symbol tokens, manipulated solely on the basis of their
(arbitrary)
shapes, be grounded in anything but other meaningless symbols?”
This problem
he
calls the symbol grounding problem. He says: “But the problem
of connecting up with the
world
in the right way is virtually coextensive with the problem of cognition itself.” The
symbol
grounding problem can be argued to be an artifact of the symbolic
position. In the
same
vein, Stewart says:
“[…]
since linguistic symbols emerge from the precursors of the semiotic signals of
animal
communication,
they always already have meaning, even before they acquire the status of
symbols.
On this view, formal symbols devoid of meaning are derivative, being
obtained by
positively
divesting previously meaningful symbols of their significance. Quite concretely, this
process
occurred historically in the course of the history of axiomatic mathematics
from Euclid to
Hilbert.
>From this point of view, the “symbol-grounding problem” of
computation cognitive
science
looks rather bizarre and somewhat perverse: why go to all the bother of
divesting “natural symbols” of their meaning, and then desperately
trying to put it back, when it would seem so simple to leave them as they are!”15
That question, "why ...
divest ... symbols of their meaning, and then ... try to put it back ... why
not leave the [signals as bound to their original biological meaning]?" is
a very good one to consider.
We divest MOST signals of their
biological meaning, in order to have more generalized use of symbols, and to
use a vocabulary of signals that is more fit for our modern lifestyle, lived
far from the bushes in which they originated.
Sincerely,
Rich Cooper,
Rich Cooper,
Chief Technology Officer,
MetaSemantics Corporation
MetaSemantics AT
EnglishLogicKernel DOT com
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