> I've been reading everyine's cmments,but no one has toluched on this
> point. I don't understand how thinking and deliberation are dependent on
> the manipulation of symbols. Can anyone help me?
>
> betsy
>
This may seem a bit sketchy [and if it is wrong somebody correct me
before I do more harm:-)] but here goes: Phenonemological philosopher
Husserl believed that all an individual could really know could only come
from the individuals senses and that anything else was purely speculation
(which should be avoided). However we know from personal experience that
we all speculate to one degree or another especially as we start to
conceptualize abstract concepts. Since our understanding of things that
we have not directly experienced can only come through having the concept
described to us, and the process of description can only be done in a
symbolic manner, such as language, a picture, music, hand gestures, etc.,
Our thinking and deliberation on such matters will ultimately be
tied to the symbols we use to understand the concept, and more
specifically to those that were used to describe the concept in the first
place. However, even those things which we know through our own personal
senses are thought about symbolically. Whenever we think of "tree", that
is a label, a sign if you will, that has been socially created to
represent a specific type of biological "thing". When you use the label
"tree" in your thinking, deliberations, or communication, you are pulling
the symbol from what Alfred Schutz called a "common stock of knowledge".
This is like a store house which we all pull from and it enables us to
all be using the same signs and symbols to think, deliberate, and describe
things. We acquire the common stock of knowledge from our social group.
I hope this helped, or at least didn't hurt :-)
Timothy B. Gongaware
Ohio University
tg125990@oak.cats.ohiou.edu