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You may think language is necessary, and probably because that is the only way you've experienced thought. Curious, what do you think went through helen kellers
by betenoire 11y ago
You may think language is necessary, and probably because that is the only way you've experienced thought. Curious, what do you think went through helen kellers mind? Or someone in a similar situation? Are they incapable of thinking without a formal language to internalize? Do you think they "think less"?
Our thoughts are inextricably linked to and shaped by our senses. Sight and vocalization dominate for humans and your thoughts center around those sensations.
But what the hell do I know, I'm just a dog.
- andrewflnr 11y agoActually, it's almost certainly not the way GP actually experiences most thought. A lot, if not most, of any intelligence is nonverbal, whether your mouth functions correctly or not.
- betenoire 11y agoI agree, language-as-thought seems to be the ex-post-facto self-explanation of what we just experienced.
- randallsquared 11y ago> what do you think went through helen kellers mind? Well, Keller wasn't blind and deaf from birth. John McCrone wrote a popsci book on the subject of mind, The Myth of Irrationality, in which he proposes that conscious thought (as distinct from intelligence itself) is literally talking to yourself and essentially nothing more. Keller is a topic of one of his chapters, and he points out that she had some formative exposure to language pre-loss, while examples of humans born deaf and blind don't seem to have the same success.
- betenoire 11y agoThere is a notion that we "stand on the shoulders of giants". When you can't communicate with any of those giants, it's hard to climb on their shoulders. I can see that.