XPost: alt.philosophy.taoism, alt.buddha.short.fat.guy, alt.philosophy.zen   
   From: invalid@invalid.invalid   
      
   brian mitchell  wrote:   
   > noname wrote:   
   >   
   >> brian mitchell  wrote:   
   >>> But, back to reason and language. It seems to me that intelligence   
   >>> 'sees' or comprehends the informing or structuring principles of given   
   >>> manifestations directly, without the help of language. There is enough   
   >>> evidence of other animals developing strategies for achieving ends,   
   >>> such as tool-use, without any evidence that they've developed language   
   >>> in any degree.   
   >>   
   >> Language is the form thought takes as it is expressed; language isn't   
   >> thought, it's just a pipe we try to push thought through in order to   
   >> communicate.   
   >   
   > Your mind goes straight to the mechanical!   
      
   I lead a life that has contained much fixing, modifying, inventing, and   
   making-do.  The nice thing about the mechanical is that it doesn't take a   
   specialist to know what a pipe is.  I've had enough experience with pipes   
   and wires and levers and ratchets that I can see things in that mode.  It's   
   a lowest-common-denominator kinda language, lots more people have spun   
   wrenches than have written compilers or dealt with errors that crop up in   
   recursive functions, but if somebody wants to talk wood or paint or   
   whatever I'll take a shot at that if that's what it takes to get the job   
   done.   
      
   > I'd rather see language as   
   > the clothing of thought, ranging from drab to peacock absurdity, from   
   > the uniform to the idiosyncratic.   
      
   Dude, whatever floats your boat, may the wind be at your back.   
      
   >   
   > Still, I think that as soon as thought leaves the very practical and   
   > ventures into the abstract, into belief and opinion, language begins   
   > to exert quite considerable influence on what can be thought, and when   
   > and how.   
      
   I'm not sure how much of that I agree with.  Thought is more than we can   
   express through language... or at least English at my level of usage.  I   
   have a whole headful of thoughts that I have no clue whatsoever how to   
   express, or why I'd need to express them; when it's time to express them it   
   will doubtless be through language, even if charades, but until then, they   
   just float around like lava-lamp blobs because language can't touch 'em.   
      
   --   
   email: noname.1234567.abcdef@gmail.com   
      
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