[percy-l] language theory
Mike Frentz
mfrentz_2 at comcast.net
Sun Feb 22 23:40:46 EST 2004
Karey,
I'm sorry I really haven't gotten a chance to go back a re-look at our
earlier discussion. One of the key things that I had been impressed
with was Terrence Deacon's book, the Symbolic Species: The
Co-evolution of Language and the Brain (1997). That is an excellent
starting point for the state of the art from one scientist's
perspective a half dozen years after Percy's death. Bonus is that
Deacon is Peirce literate, as you'll see in his description of icon,
index, and symbol.
Googling Deacon's name I just came across this link on a book on
Language Evolution.
http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-924483-9
I haven't seen this book but it looks interesting at first glance. A
PDF sample was available which seemed small enough that I attached it
(I got it from the linked website of the softcover edition [reposted
without attachment]). Deacon has been saying for several years now
that he has a follow-on to Symbolic Species, called Homunculus, in
preparation, but I don't think it is yet out.
I also recall that there was some interesting material on genetic-based
language research about a year ago -- someplace in England I believe,
but I'd have to track it down.
From my perspective, Percy seems to have come to grips with the
importance of the cognizance of self in forming judgments, which is a
critical last step in the understanding of knowledge (per Bernard
Lonergan's approach in "Insight"). Lonergan seems to have
independently developed a "Percy-like" perspective in this area, by my
read (though there is no apparent connection/citing by either to the
other). Tekippe makes a comment in his commentary on Lonergan ("What
is Lonergan up to in INSIGHT?: A Primer") that in order "to find an
adequate stress on judgement, one must go back to the medieval
philosphers. Thomas Aquinas, in particular, places a strong emphasis
on judgment as the single criterion of truth." (p 122). Percy, and a
very small minority of only partially connected or disconnected others
(e.g. Peirce, Lonergan, Aquinas), seem to be adding something in coming
from a humanistic perspective that a purely scientic perspective (e.g.
Deacon, Minsky, Chomsky) seem to be oblivious of (which I attribute to
the lack of moorings and underlying, but apparently totally blind,
agenda which appears to be prevalent in current postmodern-polluted
academia (not to mention mass media). I think there is probably much
in current scientific advances that could add to the track that Percy
was pursuing.
Just my blathering..
Best,
Mike
On Feb 13, 2004, at 9:21 PM, Karey L. Perkins wrote:
> This is addressed specifically to Mike Frentz, and generally
> addressed to the vast and superior collective knowledge of the Percy
> listserv as a group:
>
> Several months ago (years?) Mike, you said, that much
> research/knowledge had been done/gained on language acquisition
> and language theory since Percy's death. What is this, specifically?
> I know the list has discussed the FOXP2 gene. Has more been
> discovered/explored? What were you referring to when you made this
> comment?
>
> I am continuing my exploration of Percy's language theory/radical
> anthropology. He seems specifically concerned with the "third
> element" of the triad, the human self, and what is happening
> there: Among other things, Percy refers to the work of Norman
> Geschwind: his discovery of a “recently evolved structure, ‘the
> human inferior parietal lobule, which includes the angular and
> supramarginal gyri, to a rough approximation areas 30 and 40 of
> Brodmann’” (Message in the Bottle 326). Percy elaborates
> on Geschwind’s findings that this structure is not present in the
> macque, and only rudimentarily present in higher apes. It seems Percy
> WAS interested in finding a neuro-physiological/anatomical correlate
> (as he discusses in this essay in Message in the Bottle). But I would
> venture to guess that much work has been done since Geschwind.
>
> And here's a question to throw out to all: if there is a
> physical/biological brain location for language (surely dyadic), how
> is that this dyadic structure creates triadic thought? Aren't we back
> to Descartes' dilemma of how a mind/body interacts?
>
> Karey
>
>
> --
>
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
> http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
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