[lit-ideas] Re: Language, Justice and Social Practices (long)

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005, Eric Yost wrote:

> Walter wrote: I'm happy to refer to the "concept" of a chess pawn,
> rook, etc., in answer to Eric's question. But I don't think one can
> learn to play chess without learning the names of the pieces. The
> name identifies the set of inferential relations given by the concept.
>
> _____
>
> Walter, how do you respond to this suggestion, posted earlier?
>
> _____
>
> I can easily imagine someone gesturing across the second rank--say
> to an illiterate deaf person--and indicating the moves possible.
> Similarly when the deaf person made a mistake in learning the moves,
> one would pat his or her hand, gesture "no" in the French style with
> one's index finger, and then indicate the possible legal moves of
> the piece. By repetition, the deaf person could became a strong and
> competent player without having a single name for any of the pieces,
> or without even having names for special cases like "en passant,"
> "pawn promotion," "queenside castling," etc.
>
> Now this illiterate deaf person could teach other illiterate deaf
> people how to play chess because he or she had internalized the
> rules of playing chess.
>
I don't know much about what goes on in the mind of an illiterate deaf
person.  But I would think that if she has the concept of a pawn she
understands how the pawn moves, captures, etc. If she also has the concept
of a knight, she understands how the knight moves, captures, whether it
can jump over other pieces or not, etc.. However it is that she identifies
the one set of inferential relations (concept) from the other and
differentiates between them I would call a naming procedure. But perhaps
illiterate deaf people don't or can't use names in the ways we do. But so
long as she can keep the different concepts separate and act in accordance
with each, I guess we could have a game of chess together. Am I
contradicting anything I have already claimed on this matter? Am I missing
something?

Cheers, Walter
Memorial U
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