History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps HoP 273 - What Do You Think? - Ockham on Mental Language
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Mar 12, 2017 AI Snips
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Twain's German Joke And Thought Language
- Peter Adamson recounts Mark Twain's jokes about German grammatical gender and long compounds to illustrate language oddities.
- He contrasts that with his internal 'language of thought' which lacks such idiosyncrasies.
Mental Terms As Natural Signs
- William of Ockham treats mental terms as natural signs shared by all thinkers, unlike conventional spoken words.
- He claims mental language is the 'natural' language beneath diverse spoken languages like English and German.
Thought Lacks Grammatical Gender
- Ockham argues mental nouns lack grammatical gender and pronouns, containing only features needed for meaning.
- He uses this to explain why English aligns closer to mental language than languages with gender.