the can of worms is trully open

[flash flash@xxxxxxxx]

Y'all,

I'm not sure what 'ontological' meant there either; I was referring to
Harry Binswanger's comment that there must be something 'ontological'
about colors. I assumed he meant something independent of its being
perceived.

I had a suspicion that 'hard-wiring' would open a can of worms. I see it
has opened several cans of worms. There was a fascinating article in The
Economist, January 10, 2004 titled Babel's Children. It reports a study
of an Indonesian language which appears to be devoid of nouns and verbs.
Chomsky's theory of 'deep grammar' and the 'hard-wired camp' are hard
put to account for such a phenomenon. Once I get my scanner up and
running, I'd be happy to post the article to anyone interested. I myself
am quite prepared to believe that a few basic things are hard-wired;
but, then again, how do you (or the ubiquitous 'we') define 'basic'??
'Yes' and 'no' seem pretty basic, and head turning up-down or
side-to-side are pretty basic, too, so it is highly likely that most
cultures would associate one or the other with one or the other, if not
v.v. However, subjunctive conditionals are highly complicated
abstractions, and there is nothing you can point to in nature or the
brain as an example of something's NOT having happened. I think the
'hard-wired' camp is bound to falter on that one.

If what 'hard-wired' means is a disposition to pay attention to our
environment, including the environment which speaks to us, I have no
quarrel with it.

As a German citizen, I should like put the matter straight about 'ich
bin ein Berliner.' It most certainly does mean 'I am a jelly donut,'
notwithstanding the recent email from Wolfgang Bechstein (fine teutonic
name, that). This is not peculiar to Berliners or jelly donuts. The
construction 'ich bin ein x' does not mean that I come from x or am a
citizen of x. The same applies to 'ich bin ein Kanadier'--which means I
am a canoe, not Canadian. 'Ich bin ein Pariser' means I am a condom, not
Parisian. 'Ich bin ein Englaender' means I am a crescent wrench, not an
Englishman. 'Ich bin ein Amerikaner' would make me a frosted cookie, not
an American. Of course, the Berliners understood what JFK meant and
appreciated his gesture. But no native German/Austrian/Swiss would say
'ich bin ein Deutscher/ Oestreicher/ Schweizer.' It's incorrect. The
correct phrase for place of origin/citizenship is 'ich bin Berliner/
Amerikaner/ Schweizer/ whathaveyou' (no EIN). Not even if he had been
cured of multiple personality schizophrenia and wished to emphasize that
he was no longer two (zwei) Berliners, would it make sense to say 'ich
bin ein Berliner.'

My brother-in-law is an Aleut. I shall ask him how many different kinds
of snow they distinguish.

How many kinds of red herring do we distinguish?

Flash