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Single Idea 2500

[filed under theme 18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 3. Modularity of Mind ]

Full Idea

"Who Mummy love?" is recognizably baby talk; but "love Mummy who?" is not.

Gist of Idea

Babies talk in consistent patterns

Source

Jerry A. Fodor (In a Critical Condition [2000], Ch.14)

Book Ref

Fodor,Jerry A.: 'In Critical Condition' [MIT 2000], p.165


A Reaction

Not convincing. If she is embracing Daddy, and asking baby, she might get the answer "Daddy", after a bit of coaxing. Who knows what babies up the Amazon respond to?


The 14 ideas with the same theme [theory of separate units of the mind/brain]:

When we need to do something, we depute an inner servant to remind us of it [Proust]
Modules have encapsulation, inaccessibility, private concepts, innateness [Fodor]
Obvious modules are language and commonsense explanation [Fodor]
Modules make the world manageable [Fodor]
Modules analyse stimuli, they don't tell you what to do [Fodor]
Blindness doesn't destroy spatial concepts [Fodor]
Something must take an overview of the modules [Fodor]
Babies talk in consistent patterns [Fodor]
Rationality rises above modules [Fodor]
Modules have in-built specialist information [Fodor]
Mental modules are specialised, automatic, and isolated [Fodor, by Okasha]
Children speak 90% good grammar [Rey]
Good grammar can't come simply from stimuli [Rey]
Brain complexity balances segregation and integration, like a good team of specialists [Edelman/Tononi]