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

  • From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 12:04:07 -0400

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.

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Walter, how do you respond to this suggestion, posted earlier?

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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.

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