Edelman (1992: 34-5):
Descartes' conclusion that there was a thinking substance radically sidestepped biology, along with the rest of the materially based order. Given his remarkable forays into biology, this is surprising. One matter Descartes did not explicitly analyse, however was that to be aware and able to guide his philosophical thought, he needed to have language. And for a person to have language, at least one other person must be involved, even if that person is the memory of someone in one's past, an interiorised interlocutor. This requirement shakes Descartes' notion that his conclusions depended on himself alone and not on other people.
Blogger Comments:
From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, thinking is not a substance but a mental process that unfolds through a medium, a senser. Philosophical thoughts are the meanings of language — made possible by the wordings of language — projected by mental processes that unfold through a senser.
Language itself is a social semiotic system that is developed in each individual through social interaction, a development that corresponds to the development of higher-order consciousness, the ability to construe experience as (linguistic) meaning, and the interpersonal construction of the self.
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