The language of thought hypothesis (LOTH) proposes that thinking occurs in a mental language. Often called Mentalese, the mental language resembles spoken language in several key respects: it contains words that can combine into sentences; the words and sentences are meaningful; and each sentence’s meaning depends in a systematic way upon the meanings of its component words and the way those words are combined. For example, there is a Mentalese word whale that denotes whales, and there is a Mentalese word mammal that denotes mammals. These words can combine into a Mentalese sentence whales are mammals, which means that whales are mammals. To believe that whales are mammals is to bear an appropriate psychological relation to this sentence. During a prototypical deductive inference, I might transform the Mentalese sentence whales are mammals and the Mentalese sentence Moby Dick is a whale into the Mentalese sentence Moby Dick is a mammal. As I execute the inference, I enter into a succession of mental states that instantiate those sentences. LOTH emerged gradually through the writings of Augustine, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and many others. William of Ockham offered the first systematic treatment in his Summa Logicae (c. 1323), which meticulously analyzed the meaning and structure of Mentalese expressions. LOTH was quite popular during the late medieval era, but it slipped from view in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From that point through the mid-twentieth century, it played little serious role within theorizing about the mind. In the 1970s, LOTH underwent a dramatic revival. The watershed was publication of Jerry Fodor’s The Language of Thought (1975). Fodor argued abductively: our current best scientific theories of psychological activity postulate Mentalese; we therefore have good reason to accept that Mentalese exists. Fodor’s analysis exerted tremendous impact. LOTH once again became a focus of discussion, some supportive and some critical. Debates over the existence and nature of Mentalese continue to figure prominently within philosophy and cognitive science. These debates have pivotal importance for our understanding of how the mind works.
When you understand a person's language (not how to speak it, but what it's about), you understand more about them. Language tells us what the culture finds important or unimportant, its history, its expectations, its fears, and its hopes.
The study of how language influences thought has a long history in a variety of fields. There are two bodies of thought forming around this debate. One body of thought stems from linguistics and is known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
Having emerged from the dialects and vocabulary of Germanic peoples-Angles, Saxons, and Jutes-who settled in Britain in the 5th century CE, English today is a constantly changing language that has been influenced by a plethora of different cultures and languages, such as Latin, French, Dutch, and Afrikaans.
The language of thought hypothesis (LOTH) proposes that thinking occurs in a mental language. Often called Mentalese, the mental language resembles spoken language in several key respects: it contains words that can combine into sentences; the words and sentences are meaningful; and each sentence’s meaning depends in a systematic way upon the meanings of its component words and the way those words are combined. For example, there is a Mentalese word whale that denotes whales, and there is a Mentalese word mammal that denotes mammals. These words can combine into a Mentalese sentence whales are mammals, which means that whales are mammals. To believe that whales are mammals is to bear an appropriate psychological relation to this sentence. During a prototypical deductive inference, I might transform the Mentalese sentence whales are mammals and the Mentalese sentence Moby Dick is a whale into the Mentalese sentence Moby Dick is a mammal. As I execute the inference, I enter into a succession of mental states that instantiate those sentences.
LOTH emerged gradually through the writings of Augustine, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, and many others. William of Ockham offered the first systematic treatment in his Summa Logicae (c. 1323), which meticulously analyzed the meaning and structure of Mentalese expressions. LOTH was quite popular during the late medieval era, but it slipped from view in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From that point through the mid-twentieth century, it played little serious role within theorizing about the mind.
In the 1970s, LOTH underwent a dramatic revival. The watershed was publication of Jerry Fodor’s The Language of Thought (1975). Fodor argued abductively: our current best scientific theories of psychological activity postulate Mentalese; we therefore have good reason to accept that Mentalese exists. Fodor’s analysis exerted tremendous impact. LOTH once again became a focus of discussion, some supportive and some critical. Debates over the existence and nature of Mentalese continue to figure prominently within philosophy and cognitive science. These debates have pivotal importance for our understanding of how the mind works.
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❤❤❤ 0:07
Just beautiful
Thank you!
When you understand a person's language (not how to speak it, but what it's about), you understand more about them. Language tells us what the culture finds important or unimportant, its history, its expectations, its fears, and its hopes.
So true man
The study of how language influences thought has a long history in a variety of fields. There are two bodies of thought forming around this debate. One body of thought stems from linguistics and is known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
great vid man
This is very educational!
Thank you for your support!
sh nice video
Having emerged from the dialects and vocabulary of Germanic peoples-Angles, Saxons, and Jutes-who settled in Britain in the 5th century CE, English today is a constantly changing language that has been influenced by a plethora of different cultures and languages, such as Latin, French, Dutch, and Afrikaans.
Awsome
👍
deep tackle
0:09
RIP Jerry Fodor
rip
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awesome content