Reason, Reflection and Language
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks about the power of language. He observes that it is language that gives humans the ability to look into the future, as well as to reflect and reason in ways other organisms cannot.
How A Child Learns Language (Part 2)
Philosopher W.V. Quine continues his discussion of how children learn language. He re-asserts the importance of instinct in the learning process, linking it to what he calls perceptual similarities associated with things to be avoided or pursued.
How A Child Learns Language (Part 1)
Philosopher W.V. Quine talks about how children learn language. He equates learning with conditioning, which is based on the instinct of induction--that is, the instinct to expect similar events to be followed by events which are in turn similar to ...
Are Humans Unique?
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks about ways in which we are similar to other primates, as well as ways in which we are different. One major difference is that our brains are capable of performing operations that result in language and culture, which...
What is Human Nature?: How Language Makes Human Life Distinctive
If human nature is not different from the rest of the nature, then why is human existence so different? Language. Language allows humans to organize efforts that require social cooperation, book writing, and the passage of history from generation to...
What is Real?: Anti-realists' Thesis
Anti-realists contend that we shape the external world into the reality we know through our conceptual systems, language, and thought processes. Things are as we name them, parts and wholes as we define them. This applies to all reality in the unive...
Neurophysiology of Language, The
Linguist, author and university professor Noam Chomsky talks about where language is stored and processed in the brain. As part of this discussion, he mentions the left hemisphere, specifically focusing on Broca's area and Wernicke's area. Dr. Choms...
Language and Human Nature
Linguist, author and university professor Noam Chomsky explains that all languages share certain common principles, which he notes are picked up "reflexively, quickly, essentially without error by children and, it must be...because the principles ar...
Language and the Mind
Linguist, author and university professor Noam Chomsky explains that the word "mind" is an abstraction which is really just another way to talk about the brain. Dr. Chomsky then discusses the connection between language and the mind. "If my foot is ...
Language and Thought Through Time
Linguist, author and university professor Noam Chomsky explains that language and thought are both related and transmitted through time. Dr. Chomsky adds that, "...we don't really have very good ways of studying thought except through the avenue of ...