[percy-l] Chimp is a challenge
Ken Armstrong
armstron at ohiou.edu
Tue Mar 25 16:27:27 EDT 2008
Rhonda, Karey, Robert, et al,
Remember the Far Side cartoon, "what dogs hear": blah blah blah blah blah
Fido blah blah blah. And the companion 'toon, "what cats hear": blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah.... In _The Phenomenon of Man_, which I
haven't read for years and about which I should probably not trust my
memory, de Chardin says at some point our ancestors were hit with (or
entered into, I don't remember the verb) self-reflexive thought. It's an
interesting thought to entertain, because presumably to that first
individual (or was there a wave?) self-reflexive thought occurred without
the benefit of language (or what Percy would mean and I agree is language).
For my part, I am quite in agreement with Percy's adamant stance, and what
occurs to me when I hear that we exhibit hubris when we claim exclusivity
to language is that when we don't, we, not to put it too strongly, fail at
our charge. To me that is much more sobering than considering that we may
be slighting an animal whose jaw has to be massaged in the effort to coax
"words" out of it.
Ken A.
At 02:09 PM 3/25/2008, Karey Perkins wrote:
>Good point. Percy said language was necessary for consciousness. Thats
>something Ive been trying to decipher. What exactly is he meaning by
>consciousness? Are my cats not conscious? They definitely feel. Are they
>only conscious to the point of survival impulses, instinct, and the
>emotions related to the two? I think if we interpret Percys claim, it
>has got to mean that you cant know something beyond survival impulses
>unless you have language. You cant be aware of the inevitable arrival of
>death, and so cant experience the denial of death and the anxiety of
>death and the need for a causa sui (cf. Ernest Becker) or other human
>emotions, such as guilt and regret and redemption. (Im quite certain my
>cats dont feel guilt.) Is that what he means by consciousness?
>
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