Date:  Wed, 6 Dec 1995 15:33:12 -0500

From:  Ronald Butters <amspeech[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ACPUB.DUKE.EDU>

Subject: Re: Language and Intelligence



Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 10:52:16 MST

From: Tom Uharriet <UTOM[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]admn.712.nebo.edu>

To: Ronald Butters <amspeech[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]acpub.duke.edu>

Subject: Re: Language and Intelligence



On 6 Dec 1995 Tom Unharriet wrote:

>On 6 Dec 1995 Ron Butters wrote:

>> Music strikes me as thought--but not language. If you can whistle a tune

>> you can think without language. Just pucker up your lips and blow.



>But who has lived long enough to know how to whistle without also, at

>times, thinking in language? My mind can do many things without

>language (e.g. tell the heart to pump). But that does not mean that

>I do not also think in language. Find someone who has aquired a

>language without ever thinking in one.



I guess I didn't undestand the question.



I thought the question was, "Is thought without language possible?" My

answer: sure--take music, for example.



This is different from the question, "Is language possible without

thought," which seems to have only one obvious (and therefore not very

interesting) answer (yours). By the way, music is rather more complicated

than the "mind" "tell[ing] the heart to pump." Music is complex,

rule-governed, volitional, and need not necessarily have physical

expression. Like language. But not language.