How children pick up a language: new review of Wolfe (Humans)

by dhw, Friday, October 28, 2016, 12:46 (2947 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Evolution does not explain the appearance of consciousness as you state, but the advanced language we have is a byproduct of consciousness, and so we would not have language if consciousness had not appeared.

dhw: All forms of communication are a byproduct of consciousness. What on earth would be the point of developing means of communication if there was nothing to communicate? I do not believe for a second that our pre-human ancestors were zombies who had nothing to communicate; nor do I think chimps, dogs, birds, ants go through life as automatons and merely grunt, bark, sing and send out chemical signals for no purpose at all. I would even go so far as to say that bacteria are conscious and use chemicals to communicate. No form of language, advanced or rudimentary, would exist if consciousness had not appeared.

DAVID: Back to panpsychism.

It has nothing to do with panpsychism, which in its true sense entails all matter having a mental aspect. Forget bacteria. Do you or do you not agree that pre-humans, chimps, dogs, birds and ants had/have languages of their own which enable them to communicate information provided by their particular forms of consciousness, and that no form of language, advanced or rudimentary, would exist if consciousness had not appeared?