William S. Lear wrote: > On Tuesday, August 24, 1999 at 14:20:52 (-0500) Carrol Cox writes: > >"William S. Lear" wrote: > > > >> On Tuesday, August 24, 1999 at 13:29:42 (-0700) Ajit Sinha writes: > >> >... > >> >There are no "individuals" Rod, only subjects. ... > >> > >> Ajit, you are usually a bit more careful than this. Who gave us > >> language? Who gave us the capacity for thought? If you have indeed > >> answered "Descartes' Question", we'd love to hear about it, but I > >> don't think your approach will quite do... ________________- Who gave us language, Bill? Our individuality? Our will? How can you understand language outside of the context of its use? If you are saying that human beings have capacity to have language as part of their biological being, who is denying that? Cheers, ajit sinha > > > >I'm not sure what Descartes has to do with it. ... > > He posed the question of how humans use language creatively, something > not explained by experience or any sort of "subjectivity". Therefore, > to say we are "only subjects" is just plain wrong (as is saying the > opposite). > > > .... Try the mind experiment of stripping away every > >social relation you have ever had. What would be left? > > You seem to assume that the answer is "nothing", which again is quite > wrong. Try stripping away our innate capacities. You'd be left with > a random wadd of protoplasm. > > Bill
