more from Timothy Williamson

Single Idea 9600

[catalogued under 24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 5. Culture]

Full Idea

Given empirical evidence for the approximate intertranslatability of all human languages, and a universal innate basis of human cognition, we may wonder how 'other' any human culture really is.

Gist of Idea

If languages are intertranslatable, and cognition is innate, then cultures are all similar

Source

Timothy Williamson (The Philosophy of Philosophy [2007], 8.1)

Book Reference

Williamson,Timothy: 'The Philosophy of Philosophy' [Blackwell 2007], p.251


A Reaction

This seems to be a fairly accurate account of the situation. In recent centuries people seem to have been over-impressed by superficial differences in cultural behaviour, but we increasingly see the underlying identity.