[krisoft]

> Imagine a system of gears. Turn them and adjust them in your mind. You’re thinking in images rather than language.

How is this demonstrating anything? Can someone do the same who doesn't know what a gear is?

[mcphage]

The idea is that it an example of explicitly non-linguistic thinking—hence not all thinking can be defined or limited by linguistic structures.

[hprotagonist]

a counterpoint is that this example begs the question; it assumes a priori that “thinking about gears” is not a language itself.

which, who knows, it might be!

[mcphage]

Unless you already start with the assumption that all mental processing is language, I don't think "rotating gears in your head" qualifies as a language. I mean, you can have discussions about what constitutes "language", but there are a number of expected attributes, and visually rotating shapes in your mind doesn't possess any of them.

[JackFr]

Extra points for a rare completely appropriate use of “begs the question.”