[lit-ideas] "Try to describe the aroma of Colombian coffee"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 15:23:23 EDT
In a message dated 8/22/2004 2:56:13 PM Eastern Standard Time,
andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> I heard Peter Gordon being interviewed on Science Friday yesterday and I
was at
> a loss as to why this was news. "No word, no concept" has always seemed
> a no-brainer to me. Aren't words just symbols of concepts? If there's no
> symbol, it's a pretty safe bet there's no concept.
There are many ideas (or ways of thinking) that often aren't expressed in
language. And
often, there are ideas that can't be expressed in language. Either they're
too complex, or
they're the type of ideas that don't lend themselves to being couched in
linguistic
metaphors.
---
This is reminiscent of Wittgenstein's relevant observation in _Philosophical
Investigations_:
$34. Try to describe the aroma of Colombian
coffee.
Geary would say, "aromatic", but that for Wittgenstein, is tautological.
Cheers,
JL
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