|
|
19 / 07 / 2004
Derek Bickerton: “Language is a way of fixing the world”
Óscar Vilarroya revealed a first conclusion of the Dialogue: “A child learns more with a teacher than with a video.
Derek Bickerton, professor emeritus of the University of Hawaii (USA), stated, “Language is not only a means of communication. It is also a way of fixing the world. This only depends on our ability to imagine and to change our minds in order to make us find ways of changing the real world.” Derek Bickerton stated this in his assessment his morning of the Forum dialogue on “The Social Brain. Biology of Conflict and cooperation.” Dialogue director Òscar Vilarroya revealed some of the conclusions reached in this dialogue, which are to be presented tomorrow in the closing session of the event: “A child learning with a video does not really learn anything whereas the interaction with a teacher makes a difference.”
The goal of the dialogue “The Social Brain. Biology of Conflict and Cooperation” which ends tomorrow at the Forum Barcelona 2004 is “to open a door to the various scientific fields in order to see what they have to say with regard to the Forum’s core themes (peace, diversity and sustainability) and to find ways in which the fields of linguistics, neuroscience and the study of the biology of conflict and cooperation can contribute to political and social action,” reminded the dialogue director Òscar Vilarroya.
Vilarroya explained that the dialogue, “with 700 registered participants and a high participation since the first day is showing many specific conditions of learning that challenge our convictions with regard to our ways of learning, reaching agreements or living together.” We can now see, for instance, that communication is not about transmitting messages but the interaction that takes place in order for this communication to occur.” Thus Vilarroya revealed a conclusion of the dialogue, “a child learning with a video does not really learn anything whereas the interaction with a teacher makes a difference.”
Vilarroya announced that the three videos made by the University of Valencia, which served as background for each of the work sessions, would be projected again tomorrow at 9:30 am. On the first day the dialogue addressed the learning of social values and the brain cognitive processes. Vilaroya summarized this by stating, “we now know that a brain can unlearn everything it learned” On the second day the sessions dealt with the neurobiology of moral thought, “where it was concluded that no clear separation between reasoning and emotions is possible.” On the third day the sessions focused on the importance of language in human evolution.
The prestigious linguist Derek Bickerton is a world authority in his field. He pointed that, “Culture is not possible without language, and this is what makes us different from animals, while everything we see has been created by man’s will. We share some biological roots with animals and this links us to the rest of Creation (the need to protect ourselves, to fight and compete, to look after our children), but there are also many features that mark a difference: socio-biological models are nothing in comparison with the great changes that were made possible through language.” “Language is not only a means of communication. It is also a way of fixing the world. This only depends on our ability to imagine and to change our minds in order to make us find ways of changing the real world,” concluded Bickerton.
|
|
|
Send to a friend
print