Re: Thought and Language

> So, then, anyone who would like to throw me some opinions (either
> philosophical or psychological) on the relationship between Thought and
> Language as well as the name of your university (if applicable) stands a
> very good chance of being quoted.
Why do I care whether the ETH gets publicity or not?  But I'll offer some
quick opinions anyway.


> Does language form the boundary of human thought? (Sapir-Whorf)
Does it limit human thought?  Yes, in some ways it does, as some people pre=
fer
to rely on language for reasoning, although this is in fact by no means
neccessary -- only convenient.  But there is nothing which *cannot* be said
in a language, even a "bad" one, it's just a matter of how simple or involv=
ed
it is to say in that language.  A language can either be an obstacle or an
encouraging factor towards certain types of thought, e.g. logic and reason.


> Does language *create* thought? (Vygotsky, I believe)
> etc.
Every language contains a good deal of "personality" in itself; it contains
a "universe" of pre-established ideas, such as how best to organize memorie=
s
(as Danoven/Aroven does, and Lojban seems to be similar in that respect),
whether those patterns are made explicit or not, so certain patterns of thi=
nking
are vastly more convenient in a given language than others.  The language
cannot create thought, only steer it somewhat.  "Logical" languages tend to
be rather intense about that influence, while natural languages only hint a=
t
thought patterns.  There are pros and cons for each approach, of course, bu=
t
personally I prefer clarity as opposed to vagueness and ambiguity over
"smoothness" as opposed to standardized patterns.


Josh


        _/_/      _/_/  _/_/_/_/   Joshua Shinavier            =20
         _/        _/  _/         Loorenstrasse 74, Zimmer B321=20
        _/        _/  _/_/_/_/   CH-8053 Z=FCrich              =20
 _/    _/  _/    _/        _/   Switzerland                 =20
_/_/_/_/  _/_/_/_/  _/_/_/_/   http://members.tripod.com/~Paradox5

Danoven/Aroven: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/5555/ven.htm