>Logic is how we reflect the world
>in thinking it. That is, since we do not intend our sensations then, in
>order to be conscious of what we sense we must think it through to a logical
>form (concept). In intending it, at the tail end of our re-cognition of a
>sensation, we realize that something is indeed "being seen" (and so forth).
>This process necessitates language, in that our thinking must take the form
>of symbol. I have a feeling that you will not like this description so I
>truly suggest we just drop the topic all together. There really is not a
>point in continuing.
Dear Daniel
Why does it get me so irritated when you patronisingly suggest I "drop
the subject"?
It occurred to me yesterday that the word "logic" is completely
inadequate to carry all the freight you wish to load on it. From all
your posts, you seem to wish "logic" to mean the thought processes of
logic, the mentation of sensory perceptions, our physical existence, the
processes of recognition, the ontological status of our
being-in-the-world _and_ the irrational - that's a heavy burden for a
word which means, in fact, the art of _reason_ or the process of
reasoning, and its misuse in your arguments no doubt has a lot to do with
the problems _you_ are having communicating.
The processes of acquiring language are fascinating to watch, and involve
all the processes of consciousness I list above. An infant _cannot_, in
fact, 'do all the learning and "teaching" him or herself'; children who
are not spoken to or related to by other human beings, like those orphans
in Romania, either do not learn how to speak, or their linguistic skills
are deeply impaired. The "universal grammar" you seem to think
transcendently exists in language itself, by virtue of the fact that most
of us acquire it, may be part of the structure of our brains (which is
why I'd suggest you read about some of the research happening now in
neurology); but linguistic acquisiton is also deeply about human
relationship; it has much to do, in the beginning, with simple human
needs - the communication of desires for food, warmth, comfort, safety.
And none of this accounts either for the sheer pleasures of noise-making
with no communicable value, which is very observable in small children,
and often in adults. Some of whom become poets.
Best
Alison
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