more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
'Mentalese' would be neither conventional nor a means of public communication so that even to call it a language is seriously misleading.
Gist of Idea
Mentalese isn't a language, because it isn't conventional, or a means of public communication
Source
E.J. Lowe (Locke on Human Understanding [1995], Ch.7)
Book Ref
Lowe,E.J.: 'Locke on Human Understanding' [Routledge 2004], p.146
A Reaction
It is, however, supposed to contain symbolic representations which are then used as tokens for computation, so it seems close to a language, if (for example) symbolic logic or mathematics were accepted as languages. But who understands it?
| 7710 | Perception is a mode of belief-acquisition, and does not involve sensation [Lowe] |
| 7711 | Science requires a causal theory - perception of an object must be an experience caused by the object [Lowe] |
| 7712 | On substances, Leibniz emphasises unity, Spinoza independence, Locke relations to qualities [Lowe] |
| 7714 | Personal identity is a problem across time (diachronic) and at an instant (synchronic) [Lowe] |
| 7715 | Mentalese isn't a language, because it isn't conventional, or a means of public communication [Lowe] |
| 7722 | If meaning is mental pictures, explain "the cat (or dog!) is NOT on the mat" [Lowe] |
| 7720 | Two things can only resemble one another in some respect, and that may reintroduce a universal [Lowe] |