HTL: How can we think in a language?
Key data of the project
- Project fund: FWF/DFG
- Funding amount: € 638.601
- Heads of the project: Christopher Gauker (University of Salzburg), Nikola Kompa (University of Osnabrück)
- Project duration: 10/2023–09/2026
- Project team members: Mathijs Geurts, Daniel Gregory
- Project site: Webseite an der Universität Osnabrück
Description of the project
The path between the extremes indicated by recent developments in the context of philosophical considerations on the relationship between language and thought consists of the following two hypotheses. Firstly: Spoken language is itself the medium of all propositional thought. Second, there are variants of cognition that do not consist in the production of sentence-like thoughts, and these other variants support the acquisition and use of language.
In order to accept these hypotheses, two deep-rooted assumptions need to be uncovered and challenged. One is that language is essentially a tool by which speakers reveal the content of underlying thoughts to listeners. If we say this, then we cannot claim that the languages we speak are themselves the medium of propositional thought. The other is the assumption that all thought is propositional thought. If all thought were propositional thought, and propositional thought were an inner conversation, then there would be no way of thinking to explain language acquisition and the processes of deciding what to say and how to respond to what is said to us.
To undermine these entrenched assumptions, we need to construct positive alternatives. We need a positive notion of interpersonal communication that allows it to be something that can meaningfully occur within a single person. And we need to identify other forms of cognition to explain how spoken language can be learnt as a medium of propositional thinking and, once learnt, used effectively.
