DIANA:
Pirsig also cites what I believe is now known
> as "The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax", ie the 16 different words for snow.
> Allowing for the fact that there are at least ten words for snow in
English, it
> sill proves nothing except that it's snowy where they live. We all know
> jargon relating to our areas of expertise, Americans have 16 different
words for
> fried eggs, it isn't evidence for a different metaphysical structure and
it doesn't
> prove that people who don't know these words won't also see differences in
the
> forms.
RICK:
If I'm not mistaken Pirsig is refering to the "modified SAPIR-WHORF
hypothesis" which says simply that our language will be a filter for our
percetions. As far as I know, it's not a controversial or often contested
theory.
all good,
Rick
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