On May 19, 2012, at 5:47 PM, William Conger wrote: > It just kills me to have to say, sadly, with deep remorse and downcast eyes > that I wonder why people who have never published in linguistic theory are so > much smarter field than those who have. Maybe it's like sports when the > spectators are always better players and coaches than those actually on the > field playing the game.
William -- I wouldn't begin to put myself in a class with Harris about Attic Greek, Indo European, the Zero Copula status of Chinexe, Indonesia, etc. That sort of thing is what i Have in mind when I say "linguistics". But the Harris topics I've been attacking have all been philosophy of language, of mind and ontology. I was a shallow lout in college, but I did manage to get the first 4.0 GPA in my Ivy League college since before WWII, and I was a philosophy major, so I brought some equipment to the job. And I've now spent a good part of the last ten years reading in the areas of philosophy pertinent to Harris's topics in this discussion. I feel qualified in equipment and "learning" to comment on Harris.
