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by Jensson 816 days ago
But that would be an impossibility if understanding requires expressing it in language.
1 comments
coldtea 816 days ago
The thinking language doesn't have to be the same thing as the expression language.

It can still have a language form (manipulation of groups of symbolic structures, terms, and associations), but doesn't have to be English, or even at the conscious "internal monologue" level.

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red75prime 816 days ago
How can you know that it's symbolic if you have no conscious access to it? Processes happen in the brain, some results in explicit symbolic representation, others not so much. Bringing "language" into this does not achieve much besides the fact that language we use to communicate plays some role in internal monologue.
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coldtea 815 days ago
>How can you know that it's symbolic if you have no conscious access to it?

Well, it has to be able refer to things (it can't include the actual objects), not to mention handle abstractions and concepts.

An animal can do that with direct response/manipulation/pointing etc, humans must do it at a symbolic level to handle the world at the level we do.

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