[wilg]

Are your thoughts or ideas ever in language before you say or write them?

I think this is the same misunderstanding as “the mind’s eye” https://x.com/stuartjritchie/status/1708871999924179024?s=46

[stavros]

I can narrate them if I want to, but I have to choose to. I don't have the narrator constantly in my head, my default state is "no narrator".

[wilg]

My guess is that’s how everyone works. But we’ll never really know. It’s all analogies like wine tasting notes.

[stavros]

I know plenty of people who constantly have narrated thoughts and find it very hard to stop them.

[wilg]

I believe they are just explaining the same thing with a different analogy. Can you stop thinking thoughts? “Narration” is a metaphor.

[stavros]

They're pretty clear that their thoughts are in language, and mine are not. I'm not sure how those can be the same thing. I can stop thinking thoughts, yes.

[olalonde]

I agree with wilg. For example, what you are describing seems similar to my own subjective experience and yet, I've always thought of myself as having an inner monologue. To me, an inner monologue is just about reasoning in my head with the help of language. You are capable of formulating sentences in your head? Solving riddles? You can articulate how you reached a certain conclusion? etc. Surely not every word that comes out of your mouth comes as a surprise? I don't think having an internal monologue necessarily means having a constant conversation with yourself.