Fw: teleology and language

From: Kenneth Van Oost (Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be)
Date: Thu May 09 2002 - 19:14:25 BST

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    From: "Kenneth Van Oost" <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be>
    To: <kennethvanoost@myrealbox.com>
    Subject: Fw: teleology and language
    Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 20:14:25 +0200
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    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Kenneth Van Oost <Kenneth.Van.Oost@village.uunet.be>
    To: <kennethvanoost@myrealbox.com>
    Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2002 9:48 PM
    Subject: Re: teleology and language

    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: Douglas P. Wilson <dp-wilson@shaw.ca>
    >
    > > There is something right about that, although I think some of the
    memetic
    > > content of language is not "culturally accessible" since it is
    unavailable
    > > even to native speakers of the language, in more or less the same way
    our
    > > DNA includes a lot of sequences that aren't used for anything but are
    > passed
    > > along through the generations for reasons nobody has yet divined.
    > >
    > > Maybe there are no reasons, maybe they are just useless noise, but
    people
    > > like the late Lewis Thomas have seen ways they may be a vital part of
    some
    > > global genetic process. I don't really know enough about genetics to
    form
    > > an intelligent opinion on that, but when it comes to language I think I
    > know
    > > enough to state with certainty that natural languages are full of
    > something
    > > we don't use, some kind of content we can't get a handle on, but do pass
    > > along to our children.
    >
    > Hi Douglas,
    >
    > Yes, I understand what you mean here !
    > I would call such things ' nuances ' ( can 't find a better word), and yes
    > indeed, even we speak the language they are hard to understand and
    > mush harder to explain to someone strange to the language.
    > But even that said, for the time being, I haven 't got a clue how this,
    > memetical info could ( would/ should ) be transferred to the next gene-
    > rations, if we exclude the possibility that memetical info can travel
    > along with the genetical one. And than again, it is more of a feeling than
    > real- word- like information/ meaning.
    >
    > Regards,
    >
    > Kenneth
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

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    This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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    For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
    see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit



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