Date of Award
1-1-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A. in Philosophy
First Advisor
Donovan Wishon
Second Advisor
Deborah Mower
Third Advisor
Timothy Yenter
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
This paper re-examines the language of thought hypothesis by considering objections raised by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe against influential views about the relation of language and thought in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, such as those posited by Herder, Schleiermacher, Schlegel, and von Humboldt. Goethe’s Theory of Colors contains an instructive critique of the idea held by many of his contemporaries: that the bounds and limits of thought are linguistic in character. I argue that Goethe’s remarks anticipate later 20th-century challenges to the language of thought hypothesis regarding implicit cognition, such as Dennett’s “chess playing” example, as well as Gödel’s discussions of the issue of formal incompleteness.
Recommended Citation
Turnquist, Berit, "From Goethe to Godel: Against the Language of Thought Hypothesis" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2068.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2068