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Can rational thought exist without language?
If one can understand the existence of cause and effect one is rational. This understanding, to be conveyed or remembered needs symbols inside one’s own mind. These symbols are called words. Agreed words between two you are more people is called language. The question is weather symbols required for rationality . . . Yes.
* If one can understand the existence of cause and effect one is rational. This understanding, to be conveyed or remembered needs symbols inside one’s own mind. These symbols are called words. Agreed words between two you are more people is called language. The question is weather symbols required for rationality . . . Yes.
* Thought is simply thought. It is neither rational or irrational. Thought exists with or without language. Behavior is rational or irrational.
* Physically rational thought is a product of the slow thinking type 2 brain. Without that you’re an instinctual creature. With it I would say yes, being able to rationalise is something mammals, for example, are capable of. Plus, they do have a language of sorts. I think language is the product of a rational brain, not the other way around
* Sam Harris has pointed out that we often think to ourselves within the constructs of language as if we were talking to someone else, for example, one may think of the sentence; “Where did I put my key?”…
