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

by David Turell , Sunday, October 30, 2016, 00:37 (2733 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Back to panpsychism.

dhw: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?

DAVID: The animals above are conscious, but do not have self-aware consciousness at the human level. Our horses nicker 'hello' and otherwise communicate by body language, pinning their ears, wrinkling their nose, the look in their eye, baring teeth, kicking. Not much verbiage it seems.

dhw: I did not say that animals had a human form of consciousness, but I referred to their “particular forms of consciousness”. I did not say they used “verbiage” but I referred to “languages of their own”. You have agreed that they are all conscious. Are you now trying to tell us that animals do not communicate with one another?

I have just described how horses communicate with themselves and with us.

dhw: If you agree that they do, perhaps you will also agree that their form of communication (= their language), advanced or rudimentary, would not exist if consciousness had not appeared.

Using your definition of consciousness you are correct.