“Normally, people manage to communicate using our informal, muddly, complicated, natural language abilities.”
I think that, in actuality, they don’t. Or rather, they communicate very little: mostly by indicating positions that the listener is already familiar with.
Ever try explaining a truly new idea to someone? With most people, I find that if they don’t already have a referent, they simply can’t understand, because they’re not used to extracting complex information from natural language.
We’re in agreement. The position that I was arguing against is something like: “People can’t communicate unless they first define their terms.” That would be an infinite regress; the only possibility would be that people never manage to communicate.
I offer a restatement: people can’t communicate at a complex and abstract level unless their words are first defined in terms of words with already-accepted and -understood meanings.
If I begin to talk about gilxorfibbin without explaining what that is, it’s unlikely the context will make it possible for you to know what I’m discussing.
“Normally, people manage to communicate using our informal, muddly, complicated, natural language abilities.”
I think that, in actuality, they don’t. Or rather, they communicate very little: mostly by indicating positions that the listener is already familiar with.
Ever try explaining a truly new idea to someone? With most people, I find that if they don’t already have a referent, they simply can’t understand, because they’re not used to extracting complex information from natural language.
We’re in agreement. The position that I was arguing against is something like: “People can’t communicate unless they first define their terms.” That would be an infinite regress; the only possibility would be that people never manage to communicate.
Okay, I’ll accept that.
I offer a restatement: people can’t communicate at a complex and abstract level unless their words are first defined in terms of words with already-accepted and -understood meanings.
If I begin to talk about gilxorfibbin without explaining what that is, it’s unlikely the context will make it possible for you to know what I’m discussing.