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Derek Bickerton, of the University of Hawaii, delivered a lecture on “The Centrality of Language in Human Evolution” Feb. 7 as part of the Evolutionary Biology Symposium. Some highlights:
“We have to suppose that there is some kind of connection between what we produce and what we think. . . .
We have this capacity for behavior change--for innovation--that other species do not possess. . . .
“There is only one significant difference between the cognitive capacities of humans and those of other primates: We have language; they don’t. . . . Our cognitive equipment, aside from language, is basically no different from that of a bonobo or a chimpanzee. . . . All other cognitive capacities are present among other apes at least in embryonic form. . . .
“Basically at the heart of human language are trains of coherent symbols, a purely species-specific development. . . . We have means of representing things in our mind so we can manipulate them in our mind. . . .
“The interaction between these other capacities and language is what enables humans to: exterminate other species; trash other planets; industrialize warfare; and still feel good about it all.
“Language isn’t everything--it’s the only thing.” |
