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Full Idea
We can have words without a world but no world without words or other symbols.
Gist of Idea
Without words or other symbols, we have no world
Source
Nelson Goodman (Ways of Worldmaking [1978], 1.3)
Book Ref
Goodman,Nelson: 'Ways of Worldmaking' [Hackett 1984], p.6
A Reaction
Goodman seems to have a particularly extreme version of the commitment to philosophy as linguistic. Non-human animals have no world, it seems.
Related Idea
Idea 17652 Truth is irrelevant if no statements are involved [Goodman]
| 17650 | We lack frames of reference to transform physics, biology and psychology into one another [Goodman] |
| 17649 | If the world is one it has many aspects, and if there are many worlds they will collect into one [Goodman] |
| 17651 | Without words or other symbols, we have no world [Goodman] |
| 17654 | A world can be full of variety or not, depending on how we sort it [Goodman] |
| 17653 | Things can only be judged the 'same' by citing some respect of sameness [Goodman] |
| 17655 | Grue and green won't be in the same world, as that would block induction entirely [Goodman] |
| 17656 | Being primitive or prior always depends on a constructional system [Goodman] |
| 17657 | We build our world, and ignore anything that won't fit [Goodman] |
| 17658 | Users of digital thermometers recognise no temperatures in the gaps [Goodman] |
| 17652 | Truth is irrelevant if no statements are involved [Goodman] |
| 17659 | Reality is largely a matter of habit [Goodman] |
| 17660 | Discovery is often just finding a fit, like a jigsaw puzzle [Goodman] |
| 17661 | We don't recognise patterns - we invent them [Goodman] |