[MD] Truth and Language

[Christoffer Ivarsson]

Comrades! I Think I may understand the whole language as the intellectual 
level now.

See my philosophy studies has now brought me to Derrida and Davidson and 
their philosophising around truth and language. Some of you may remember 
that I have talked about Truth as the core value of the intellectual level, 
and the quest for truth as defining of the intellectual level - yes? Well, 
as we all know, no one really knows what truth is, philosophers and 
scientists and mystics and a whole lot of other people have been looking for 
truth through the centuries - and as much as they have been looking for 
truth they have been looking for what Truth _IS_ but, well, it hasn't been 
going all that well has it?

Anyway. Derrida's thoughts about language, as I understand it, is in 
contrast to the positivists and other since he says that language doesn't 
necessarily represent anything in the objective world, like Russell said for 
example (words representing sense-data, and thus being able to carry truth 
and building logic) but if something is true or not is determined by how it 
corresponds to the structure of the language. Inner coherence and all that. 
According to him, language isn't determined or given meaning by 
intersubjectivism, but has meaning in itself because of it's nature. Well, 
anyway-

Davidson in turn says that there is three types of knowledge, knowledge of 
the "I", of "the world" and knowledge of others (others minds I suppose). 
According to Davidson, these three areas of knowledge cannot independent of 
one another give rise to knowledge. You know, if you take Descartes "cogito" 
for example, Davidson would argue that the only way that becomes True is if 
there is other people that can verify it by putting it into context with 
what they have agreed that they know about the world.

(This is probably a very unfair presentation of Davidson's philosophy, 
partly that's because I am translating spontaneously from Swedish, and 
partly it's because I'm not all that good.)

Communication and interpretation is the basis of Truth, and if you put 
Derrida and Davidson together - even thoug one of them says that language is 
decided intersubjectively  and the other that this is not the case, if we 
look at the big picture in relation to Pirsigs statement about language 
(actually it was symbol manipulation, right? never mind) as the intellectual 
level, it makes sense if you look at it like this:

Humans create a language, and that language then becomes larger than the sum 
of it's parts (the humans) and it's nature decides one very crucial thing: 
what truth is. Thus truth doesn't exist for any being that doesn't have a 
developed language, because it is only with advanced communication and 
interpretation among individuals that the concept of truth can arise: and 
without the concept of Truth there can be no intellectual level in the MOQ.


This is all very sloppy, but are any of you following me here? What have I 
missed?


Regards

chris