> How did this start? I honestly can't remember now. Something about
> structuralism and Piaget? Oh, yeah Sokal vs. Pomo
Nice to be reminded!
> Let me put some personal background in here...
> Now, it seems to me that the various problems with locating specific
> organs, even virtual ones in the brain and identifying these with
> language or symbolic-linguistic functions maybe similar to our
> inability to find the gravitropic sense organ. That is the general
> comprehension of the two problems seems similar.
That's a huge leap, Chuck, which isn't a problem per se. But where you land is.
There's been considerable evidence for a LONG time that there ARE specialized areas in the brain--along with generalized functions. Understanding how the two interact has been a long hard process, but progress *IS* being made. In short, we aren't unable to find specialized areas, but we have to be *VERY* careful not to attribute too much to them.
Your insight may be quite useful in the context of being *VERY* careful, it's misapplied in arguing that there aren't such structures.
> Well, that is part of my motivation to discover more complexity in
> language and social structure and less in our brains. It is obvious
> that social context, symbolic activity and human development,
> including its neurophysiology all co-evolved together--not as mere
> cause-effect, but as a dialectic. It isn't just a matter of a capacity
> for language, but rather a requirement that such a symbolic system is
> actively present as a psycho-social gestalt in order to reproduce the
> nescient human mind.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I suggest you read _The Prehistory of the Mind_. It embodies a similar approach--though not just to language.
> Paul Rosenberg must be howling, since he has heard much of this before
> on another list. How are you doing Paul?
I'm howling because you're still as verbose as I am. <g>
Can't we both say more with fewer words?
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"