Ron and Craig -- I haven't researched studies on feral children, although it's an interesting anomaly in human development. Of the few case histories on record, several are suspected of being publicity stunts, and it's often difficult to distinguish "wild" behavior resulting from social isolation from genetically produced autistic behavior.
Undoubtedly children who grow up with minimal human contact, or in the society of wolves or horses, will lack language skills. It would also be unreasonable to expect them to interact cooperatively with other humans or easily adapt to the moral codes of civilized people. Pediatric studies have shown that children who haven't learned to speak before the age of four have problems mastering language, which permanently impairs their ability to communicate. In reviewing information available on the Internet, however, I have not found these learning disabilities referenced to "intellectual capacity" per se. In the absence of language, I should imagine that IQ tests would be problematic at best, making an objective measure of intelligence almost impossible. (Possibly you can provide more information on how intellectual capability is measured in such cases and what achievement scores were achieved.) We have long passed the 'Noble Savage' concept of Rousseau but, in the manner of Hegel's 'thesis-antithesis' principle, have swung in the opposite direction. Now psychologists, sociologists, and philosophers want to make a case for the "blank slate" individual who, in the absence of nurturing by society, is unable to intellectualize, form concepts, or even think. Given the postmodern "collectivist" ideology, and the egalitarian mindset of academia, it is quite likely that such conclusions have been biased by the current trends. This issue is somewhat akin to the debate over Darwin's evolution theory: there are arguments on either side, and the prevailing opinion largely depends on the weltanschauung of the moment. Clearly a child with normal neurological development has the innate capacity to conceptualize, discriminate, and form judgments, whether he/she has had the opportunity to fine-tune and master these skills or not. In any case, I find Ron's assertion that "our intellectual thoughts are dictated by grammar" to be an extreme position that defies common sense and is unsupported by empirical evidence. Regards, Ham Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
