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percy-l - Re: [percy-l] animal communication and consciousness

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Subject: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion on Walker Percy

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  • From: Ken Armstrong <armstron AT ohiou.edu>
  • To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] animal communication and consciousness
  • Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 14:48:26 -0500

Karey,

I'm with you. It was Percy's take on language that first attracted my attention to him

Percy's example of the young child just learning to speak, who points at a ball and say's, face lighting up with recognition, "Ball!", really says it all. Human beings don't just know; they know that they know. This is a huge difference between us and animals. We take delight in knowing and speaking and we know that we do that. Walter Ong points out that baby human beings don't exactly have to be taught language (tho most parents encourage that process); rather, it takes a concerted effort to prevent a (healthy) human child from learning language, which is symbolic in nature, not a system of signs (despite the confusion our printed words visit on us). Percy understood the significance of our symbolic language. Those who want to equate animal communication with human speech haven't made that discovery, i.e. it is not just animal communication that they don't grasp.

Ken Armstrong






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