Language and Thought
Interdisciplinary Themes

This distinguished collection of essays explores the place of natural language in human cognition.

Peter Carruthers (Edited by), Jill Boucher (Edited by)

9780521637589, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 August 1998

340 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.5 kg

What is the place of language in human cognition? Do we sometimes think in natural language? Or is language for purposes of interpersonal communication only? Although these questions have been much debated in the past, they have almost dropped from sight in recent decades amongst those interested in the cognitive sciences. Language and Thought is intended to persuade such people to think again. It brings together essays by a distinguished interdisciplinary team of philosophers and psychologists, who discuss various ways in which language may be implicated in human cognition. The editors have provided an introduction which lays out the basic terms and history of the debate, and a consolidated bibliography which will provide a valuable reference resource for all those interested in this area. The volume will be of great interest to all researchers and students interested in language and its place in cognition.

1. Introduction: opening up options Peter Carruthers and Jill Boucher
Part I: Language, development and evolution
2. Thought before language: the expression of motion events prior to the impact of a conventional language model Susan Goldin-Meadow and Ming-Yu Zheng
3. The prerequisites for language acquisition: evidence from cases of anomalous language development Jill Boucher
4. Some thoughts about the evolution of lads, with special reference to Tom and Sam Juan-Carlos Gómez
5. Thinking in language? Evolution and a modularist possibility Peter Carruthers
Part II: Language, reasoning and concepts
Introduction Peter Carruthers and Jill Boucher
6. Aphasic language, aphasic thought: an investigation of propositional thinking in an a-propositional aphasic Rosemary Varley
7. Representing representations Gabriel Segal
8. Magic words: how language augments human computation Andy Clark
9. The mapping between the mental and the public lexicon Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson
10. Convention-based semantics and the development of language Stephen Laurence
Part III: Language and conscious reasoning
Introduction Peter Carruthers and Jill Boucher
11. Language, thought, and the language of thought: Aunty's own argument revisited Martin Davies
12. Natural language and virtual belief Keith Frankish
13. The meta-intentional nature of executive functions and theory of mind Josef Perner
14. Reflections on language and mind Daniel Dennett.

Subject Areas: Social & political philosophy [HPS], Philosophy of language [CFA]