[MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters

[david buchanan]

Arlo said to dmb:
My turn to notice disagreement between us. And that is, if "asking" is the 
only way we have to realize other organisms like us have "an inside".  ...If 
you, assuming you don't speak Inuit, found yourself suddenly alone among a 
tribe of Inuit, ...hiding in the bush observing some Aboriginals. Is there 
no way that you could infer from observation that these organisms had an 
inside cognizance?

dmb says:
Sorry to disappoint you but I agree. Yes, its reasonable for me to infer 
there is something going on "inside" the minds of those who do not speak 
English. But that reasonable inference is still different than actually 
getting at the content of that mind through language. I think the 
hypothetical only presents a complication, not a contradiction. I think this 
complication can even be used to make the original point. Its likely that 
I'll never be able to get at contents of a dolphin's or monkey's mind, but 
hopefully I could learn to speak Inuit or the Austrailian aboriginal 
language after a dozen years or so. Then I could ask for some water and 
maybe a little lunch. Until then, the acoustic waves would vibrate my 
eardrums, but the sounds of their language would have no meaning. I'd be a 
fool to think it had no meaning, but I still wouldn't know what meaning it 
had. I'd have to learn my way into their intersubjective space, if you will.

On a less abstract level, I could probably convey my basic needs with grunts 
and gestures to any person. I mean, the joke about food and water only works 
cause you already know that. I suppose there is a lot more in common on that 
level of "language", a root we share or something.

Thanks,
dmb

P.S. I left some questions and comments hanging. Hopefully I'll be peppering 
you with questions along the same lines. I'm still getting oriented at 
school and the stuff I'm interested in seems to be all tangled up in 
unfamiliar complications. Its slowly starting to take shape. More later.

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