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Thanks Luis!
It’s well known that if a person gets a brain lesion in Wernicke’s Area they can develop a paraphasia in which they can conceptualize an object normally -- but they can’t actually say the corresponding word. What is interesting is that if a deaf person who uses sign language acquires a similar lesion in this same brain locus, they find it impossible to make the proper hand gesture that corresponds to their mental concept.
So there’s no doubt that neurophysiology and psychology enhance the understanding of language that philosophy has given us!
Thanks again…it’s always nice to hear agreement from someone who’s opinion you respect!
J
Kyle
PS. Thanks for the welcome in the post above… It’s so good to be here!
Hi Luis,
I wanted to chew on what you said a bit before I responded (and then I got swamped with other work- followed by trouble accessing this site—sorry!)...and so now this thread is way the heck down here...
I have to keep reminding myself that this forum has that same temporal quality that life seems to have: it marches inexorably onwards with or without you, whether you’re ready or not!
Anyway you said: "I think by the time we begin to recognize others as beings we've developed the personal 'code' all future 'codes' will succumb to."
That’s a great insight to take into consideration the initial development (and significance) of that nascent ‘proto-code’—which indeed would be holist/ anthropically biased at first! I never considered it that way, but it makes total sense.
This is really perceptive and well-put: "And once we recognize that there are other 'selves,' our mind finds that it must maintain its egoism and somehow adhere to society. Hence, the revised model "self," "other selves," and "other-than-selves" allows for our egoism (and boosts community) by crystallizing some fundamental, first 'code' that preserves the ego and sense of community."
Again I didn’t see it that way until you pointed it out-- but I think your take on it is bang on. And like you mentioned, any individual who lacked this ability to revise/ develop their mental concepts would be less likely to pass on their genes!
Thanks Luis,
Kyle
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