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4999 | For behaviourists language is just a special kind of behaviour [Kirk,R] |
Full Idea: Behaviourists regard the use of language as just a special kind of behaviour. | |
From: Robert Kirk (Mind and Body [2003], §7.9) | |
A reaction: This is not an intuitively obvious view of language. We behave, and then we talk about behaviour. Performative utterances (like promising) have an obvious behavioural aspect, as do violent threats, but not highly theoretical language (such as maths). |