[percy-l] language theory

Kenneth Ketner kenneth.ketner at ttu.edu
Wed Mar 3 16:53:13 EST 2004


Why would brain processes be only dyadic (i.e., "surely dyadic")?

Ken Armstrong wrote:
> At 10:21 AM 2/26/2004 -0500, you wrote:
> 
>> Still struggling with the other question I had mentioned last time 
>> ("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?").  I didn't quite understand Ken's answer:  ("More like 
>> we're already in it when we assume that the dyadic and the
>> triadic happen in totally different contexts. Why not one is subsumed 
>> to the other?  But can that be explained dyadically? No.")
>>
>> Karey
> 
> 
> Sorry if my answer was cryptic. I think the answer to your question, in 
> part, is that the dyadic brain structure does not create thought. I know 
> that this answer will be unacceptable to some, but it seems to me that 
> your question has brought to bear the usefulness of the Peirce/Percy 
> terms dyadic and triadic. Keeping a close focus on the dyadic of the 
> brain will bring all sorts of wondrous insights into the physical 
> processes that accompany thinking and speech, but cannot answer what it 
> is that creates thought.  Percy addressed something similar in Message 
> in the Bottle when he noted that the physical explanation for triadic 
> phenomenon regresses until proponents are brought to the idea of 
> homunculi pulling the strings of the brain, etc. We can know more and 
> more about the dyadic, but, to paraphrase, there is no progress in the 
> triadic.
> 
> Ken A.
> --
> 
> 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
> 


-- 
   Kenneth L. Ketner
Paul Whitfield Horn Professor
Institute for Studies in Pragmaticism - MS 0002
Texas Tech University
   Charles Sanders Peirce Interdisciplinary Professor
   School of Nursing
   Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Lubbock, TX 79409-0002
806 742 3128
   Office email: kenneth.ketner at ttu.edu
   Home email: ketner at arisbeassociates.com
Office website: http://www.pragmaticism.net
Personal website: http://www.wyttynys.net




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