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knowledge without lanaguage, or knowing how to

knowledge without lanaguage, or knowing how to

phlegm
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Posted 08/15/08 - 11:23 AM: Subject: knowledge without lanaguage, or knowing how to	#1
Hi, I'm looking for philosophical writings regarding knowledge-without-language. As an example of what I mean, knowing how to walk doesn't require language. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

yffer
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Posted 08/15/08 - 12:25 PM:	#2
Do you mean instinct?

phlegm
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Posted 08/15/08 - 12:40 PM:	#3
yffer wrote: Do you mean instinct? No. Other examples could be knowing how to ride a bike, do a certain type of dance, do gymnastics, etc. Perhaps I'm mostly focused on motor skills as a kind of knowledge.

Pete
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Posted 08/15/08 - 12:44 PM:	#4
I'd check out Gilbert Ryle on knowing-how and knowing-that. Curiously enough, there is an ongoing debate about whether knowledge of language itself is an example of what you're calling 'knowledge-without-language' (i.e. knowing-how) as opposed to knowing-that. Ryle's distinction is in The Concept of Mind.

puddytoes
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Posted 08/15/08 - 09:24 PM: Subject: knowledge without language	#5
This is one of my favorite ideas; if it is exactly what you are asking, I'm not sure. I think of it more as thinking without language. Visual thinking is an example of processing ideas without words. I think of it as a spectrum: from those who think entirely in words at one end to those who think entirely in pictures at the other. In the middle are those who think in both pictures and words. Those who think entirely in pictures may have a disadvantage in some circumstances, such as school where teaching, or the teacher is more of a 'word' thinker and lecturer. In such an instance the visual thinker needs time to translate the words to pictures, and may be left behind, or have gaps in their learning. On the other hand, more and more in our world thinking visually has advantages as our media has changed from, for example, even the news, where it used to be entirely spoken without pictorial example or video. Now visual media comes at us so fast our minds have had to adapt to process the visual to idea. It has been said (somewhere, I think Thomas West) that the visual thinker population is increasing as we change from a more verbal/written society to one so highly visual. There are many sources of information about visual thinking. Two are 'In the Mind's Eye' by Thomas G. West, and 'Thinking in Pictures' by Temple Grandin. Another idea I have been exploring, more by immersion than written information, is how Native Americans' mode of thinking differs from our own. I believe that because natives come from a more oral tradition, one where words are used sparingly, yet are richer in meaning, that thought process is happening differently than with non natives. While I have not explored native language much, I believe that a single word may have a more complex definition. For example, one word or fewer words may communicate an entire complex idea or action. How the thought process occurs is still something I am looking for. Thus, using language more sparingly, and where words are 'considered dear, and are to be remembered,' suggests to me that the thinking, or as you say knowledge, is already there, or occurs with less use of language and more use of pictures. One book that I have found to suggest this is M. Scott Momaday's 'Man Made of Words.' I don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for, but it's where I am currently.

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