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Jerry A. Fodor's Language of Thought (LOT) hypothesis, or LOTH, states that cognition and cognitive processes are only 'remotely plausible' when expressed as computational in terms of representational systems. He uses empirical data drawn from linguistics and cognitive science to express internal representations through a philosophical vantage point. Like other languages, it contains its own syntax as well as semantics which have a causal effect on the properties of these mental representations. Fodor believed that there was merit in characterizing the representational system that one was 'provisionally committed' to, and that research strategies, if not necessarily true, at least contain an 'air of prima facie plausibility.' The hypothesis describes that thoughts are represented in a "language" (sometimes known as mentalese) which allows complex thoughts to be built up by combining simpler thoughts in various ways. It is clear from the biology of the brain that these mental representations are not present in the same way as symbols written on paper; rather, the LOT is supposed to exist at the cognitive level, the level of thoughts and concepts. For example the thought that "John is tall" is clearly composed of at least two sub-parts: the concept of John (the person), and the concept of tallness. The manner in which these two sub-parts are combined could be expressed in first-order predicate calculus. From Wikipedia under the
GNU Free Documentation License What role does language play in thought? Q. Are thoughts limited to language? It seems people think in terms of their vocabulary or pictures. Can tought go beyond the ability to express them in words? If so how is it expressed? It seems that atleast critical thinking can only be expressed through language. Can things be assigned to categories without descriptive language? Implications? Asked by whoppie_jr - Tue Feb 13 10:54:32 2007 - - 10 Answers - 0 Comments A. Thats a really good observation, I've wondered that plenty of times myself. You'll find the following link very helpful, its a very interesting article from Harvard that explains this theory by comparing American/English thought processes and Korean, etc. Its really something, hope it helps! Answered by JaHannah - Tue Feb 13 11:00:00 2007 Relationship between thought, language, and creativity? Q. I have college level assignment in my Psychology class (specifically on the psychology of thinking) and I just wanted some outside ideas, or thoughts. The assignment is very open-ended. We have to demonstrate the relationship between thought, language, and creativity and we can use any format we want (video, art, audio, presentation slides, etc) however we can only use TEN words at the most. I have a few ideas but I'm really not sure if they're that great. The ideas I have are: demonstrate the development of language (takes thought and creativity); demonstrate the development of an AI language (again, takes thought and creativity. My major is software engineering so this assignment may be attempting to get us to realize the connection… [cont.] Asked by RachelM - Fri May 30 20:17:22 2008 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments A. i can help you with the language part. Benjamin Lee Whorf said that language was indicative of the way people perceive the world. Eskimos have about 100 different words for snow, so they must perceive snow differently, than English people who only 1 word for snow. but this is too much to say, because English speakers can sense the same different characteristics in snow as Eskimos. The Hopi indians do not have a past tense, so that means they don't think about the past. that's obviously a logical fallacy too. thus it is too strong to say language determines the way we think, but it can influence what we think. for example, when I say the word nurse, do you think of a male? Answered by freddie - Fri May 30 20:31:04 2008 How do we think and what is the role of language in thought?
Q. How do we think and what is the role of language in thought? Asked by Mary - Sun Dec 20 20:41:04 2009 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments A. Language is our tool to communicate thought. Answered by unknown - Sun Dec 20 20:48:15 2009 From Yahoo Answer Search: "language of thought"  latimesblogs.latimes.com Sat, 10 Jul 2010 04:18:18 GMT+00:00 Los Angeles Times (blog) Not bad for a film that was shot in a dead language (Yucatec Maya) with zero major actors in it. Regarding "Edge of Darkness" it made about as much as ... Mel Gibson's Racist Tirade - Listen Here! Allie Is Wired Mel Gibson Rant: Leaked, Profoundly Disturbing The Hollywood Gossip (blog)  brisbanetimes.com.au Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:41:57 GMT+00:00 Brisbane Times If you could name more than the singles from X or Body Language or Light Years I'd be impressed. If you could tell me the differences between each of those ...  npr.org Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:10:03 GMT+00:00 NPR (blog) Navigating the quirks and contradictions of language while working in a linguistic confluence of English, Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans (and more) is a treat. ... From Google News Search: "language of thought"  tools-for-thought.com 400px x 400px | 18.70kB [source page] pattern language rtf thumbnail gif  hovepark.org.uk 1181px x 787px | 842.90kB [source page] If you thought school was hard work think again Imagine going to school until you are 18 years old and starting at 6a m It s well known that South Korean schools get some of the best results From Yahoo Image Search: "language of thought"  armenianweekly.com Kristi Rendahl ue, 31 Aug 2010 12:57:37 GM Maybe we're good now, I . thought. . Lo and behold, it was his turn at the taxi stand again when I walked across the street the next day. Neither of us could suppress our smiles thinking of our brief and tenuous relationship. ... From Google Blog Search: "language of thought" |
