Sophistry and Pragmatism

From: Stephen Wolfram, A New Kind of Science
Notes for Chapter 12: The Principle of computational Equivalence
Section: Intelligence in the Universe
Page 1181

Theories of communication. Over the hunt of time the question of what the essential features of communication are has been discussed from m any different angles. It appears to have al dashs been a common expectation that communication somehow involves transferring thoughts from one(a) mind to another. Even in antiquity it was nevertheless recognized that all sorts of aspects of language are purely matters of convention, so that shared conventions are necessary for verbal communication to be possible. In the 1600s the philosophical idea that the unaccompanied musical mode to get information with certainty is from the senses led to focus on observable aspects of communication, and to the conclusion that there is no way to tell whether an accurate transfer of abstract thoughts has occurred between one mind and another. In the late 1600s Gottfried Leibniz nevertheless suggested that possibly a universal language - modelled on mathematics - could be created that would interpret all truths in an objective way accessible to any mind (compare page 1156).



But by the late 1800s philosophers interchangeable Charles Peirce had developed the idea that communication must be soundless purely in terms of its observable features and effects. Three levels of supposed semiotics were then discussed. The first was syntax: the grammatical or other structure of a rank of verbal or other elements. The second was semantics: the standardized meaning or meanings of the sequence of elements. And the third was pragmatics: the observable effect on those involved in the communication. In the early 1900s, the logical positivism movement suggested that perhaps a universal language or formalism found on logic could be developed that would allow at least scientific truths to be communicated in an unambiguous way not affected by issues of pragmatics - and that anything that...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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