Philosophy Now Forum

Having read Picard's The Flight From God and his classic The World of Silence, I immediately ordered MAN AND LANGUAGE when I noticed the book on Amazon on April 4. It arrived on April 8.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh= ... 1365552177

When The World of Silence arrived many years ago, I vividly remember the action I took. I loaded my gear, canoe, and dog, Bill (R.I.P.), and took off for a weekend of canoe camping with Picard in the silence of the BWCA. A no-fly zone, there you only hear natural sounds or silence. I even remember a moment when my reading was disturbed when some wind arose to challenge the silence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_W ... Wilderness
http://search.aol.com/aol/image?q=bound ... searchtabs

This memory intruded when I read the following sentence last night:

"The fact that language comes from a sphere above the world of information and utility gives it depth. Just as the figures in medieval pictures are related to the world of eternity by the gold background, so words are related to the eternal world by the divinely given being of language. The permanence and continuity that memory gives to language are also due to its divine origin." p. 4, Chapter 1 "The Gift of Language," Man and Language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Picard

What do you think is the origin of language in say, for purposes of the concrete in discussion, a small child?
Is language a gift to human beings?

NB. You can download this book and read it for free. http://www.forgottenbooks.org/info/Man_ ... 203144.php

mama

gift? no

just another tool

-Imp

Impenitent wrote:mama

gift? no

just another tool

-Imp

True as much as A, E, I, O, ....U
And why U contradicting the connection?
Since there no evidence of its direct benefits?

Impenitent wrote:mama

gift? no

just another tool

-Imp

Imp,
By what agency does language, as a tool, come into existence (take on its Being)?
Tom

by measuring how others respond when utterances are made

-Imp

Impenitent wrote:by measuring how others respond when utterances are made

-Imp

I have just discovered that you can download this book for free.
http://www.forgottenbooks.org/info/Man_ ... 203144.php

tbieter wrote:

Impenitent wrote:by measuring how others respond when utterances are made

-Imp

I have just discovered that you can download this book for free.
http://www.forgottenbooks.org/info/Man_ ... 203144.php

Yesterday I had to order a refill of my medical testing strips. I called and a woman answered. I immediately stated my name, account number, and what I wanted. I wanted to be efficient and brief. Unresponsively, she started asking me questions about other products. After a minute or so I realized that she was following a script, asking me irrelevant questions and trying to get me to buy other products. I was really annoyed, but I needed the refill so I couldn't just hang up on her.

She didn't sound human. I now realize that the script was in control of she and I. The script or language has an independent existence. From the company's viewpoint, the script is a multipurpose technique.

But I'm going to fight back. When I need another refill, I'm going to send a letter And I won't answer any phone calls!

tbieter wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:27 am

Impenitent wrote:mama

gift? no

just another tool

-Imp

Imp,
By what agency does language, as a tool, come into existence (take on its Being)?
Tom
Here is the full text of the book for free:

https://archive.org/stream/manlanguage0 ... a_djvu.txt

Are you still working as a prosecutor?

Seleucus wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2017 5:40 am Are you still working as a prosecutor?

No, I quit prosecuting in 1973, and retired from the private practice of law in 1999.

tbieter wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2017 2:31 pm

Seleucus wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2017 5:40 am Are you still working as a prosecutor?

No, I quit prosecuting in 1973, and retired from the private practice of law in 1999.

Well I don't know the facts of your life, but if I live into retirement I hope I'll be able to spend time out of door and reading philosophy too. Cheers!

tbieter
What do you think is the origin of language in say, for purposes of the concrete in discussion, a small child?
Is language a gift to human beings?

A gift? You mean are we fortunate to have it. It depends on how it is used, but in itself, it is, as Hume said, an empty vessel with no favorites. Now, you could be referring to the poetic possiblities of language: form, meter, rhythm and rhyme; emotional evocations, mystery and wonder (think Wordsworth, Emerson...everyone?...). Then, it is language, not as such, but for something else.