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Hola,
Un amigo querido en la Universidad de los Andes me dice en un mensaje
hoy:
Querida Ligia. Yo no quisiera estar en público. Pero quisiera decirte que, tal como yo lo veo, es importante hacer una distinción que parece perderse, tal vez por la falla del inglés al no tener dos palabras: Lenguaje y lengua. Lo primero, el lenguaje, abarca las matemáticas que son un lenguaje contingente también. Lo otro, la lengua oral, codifica lo que se concibe en ese otro lenguaje de fórmulas. Las matemáticas son dependientes de una lógica determinada, (logos) necesariamente ligada al "lenguaje" en el sentido lato del término. En ese nivel, pienso, se dan las diferencias de las etnomatemáticas. La codificación oral, en cada una de nuestras lenguas, según lo hablaba con un amigo matemático en estos días, puede retroalimentar el pensamiento de las fórmulas. Un abrazo
Puedes citarme sin mi
nombre.
Ligia. Pues esa es una valiosa reflexión que agradezco mucho. Pero permítanme contarles otra explicación que hace muchos años discutí en listas electrónicas colombianas y que está basada en el concepto de Evolución Humana. Pero advierto que hablar de Evolución
ha sido,es y será en muchas partes buscar pelea.
El análisis del
concepto Evolución enfrenta ayer,
hoy y enfrentará mañana a los creacionistas y a los
evolucionistas recalcitrantes por razones religiosas. Les recuerdo la más
famosa metáfora sobre el Lenguaje que conozco: Dios es el Verbo y el Verbo
es Dios.
A mi hace años me contó un amigo,
de los muchos a quienes aprecio y debo mucho y con quienes he hecho hermosas
relaciones en el ciberespacio, que el veía una cadena de lenguajes humanos
relacionados entre si de diferentes formas.
Según Robert Logan, mi amigo
canadiense, el Lenguaje es una cadena evolutiva. En los años sesenta
Robert estaba estudiando el Efecto del Alfabeto y en1986 publicó un libro con
ese título. En 1995 publicó su libro El quinto lenguaje. Tengo en mi
biblioteca, de investigador pobre, una versión que generosamente me regaló
Robert antes de la publicación. Me acabo de enterar por Google que mi
querido amigo canadiense ya va en El Sexto Lenguaje.
CITATION] Fifth Language:
Learning a Living in the Computer Age
R Logan - Stoddart, Canada, 1995 Cited by 30 - Web Search - Library Search [CITATION] The alphabet effect [CITATION] The sixth language:
learning a living in the Internet age Saludos para todos y un abrazo fuerte para mi querido amigo de
Uniandes.
Ligia
Quoting Ligia Parra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Hola, > > ¿Alguno de ustedes sabe algo sobre "mentalese", mentalizar en español? ¿Por > qué no hablamos de eso? > > Si nos atenemos al texto de abajo siguen pendientes preguntas como las > siguientes: ¿El razonamiento lógico matemático es independiente o > dependiente del lenguaje? > > Ligia > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Robert Karl Stonjek > To: Evolutionary Psychology ; MindBrain > Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 5:09 PM > Subject: [evol-psych] Article: Math without Words - Numerical reasoning seems > independent of language > > Math without Words > Numerical reasoning seems independent of language > By Philip E. Ross > > Image: BETTMANN/CORBIS > REGIONAL DIFFERENCES: The brain is not compartmentalized the way > 19th-century phrenology maps showed, but it does process math and language > abilities in different areas. > > Nineteenth-century German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss used to joke > that he could calculate before he could talk. Maybe it was no joke. Recent > work casts doubt on the notion that language underlies mathematical ability > and perhaps other forms of abstract thinking. > Writing in the March 1 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, > scientists from the University of Sheffield in England describe impressive > mathematical abilities in three middle-aged men who had suffered severe > damage to the language centers of their brains. "There had been case studies > of aphasics who could calculate," says study co-author Rosemary Varley. "Our > new take was to try to identify roughly parallel mathematical and linguistic > operations." > > Varley and her colleagues found that although the subjects could no longer > grasp grammatical distinctions between, say, "The dog bit the boy" and "The > boy bit the dog," they could interpret mathematical formulas incorporating > equivalent structures, such as "59 - 13" and "13 - 59." > > The researchers found ways to pose more abstract questions as well. For > instance, to investigate the subjects' understanding of number infinity, they > asked them to write down a number bigger than 1 but smaller than 2, using > hand motions for "bigger" and "smaller" and a flash of the eyebrow, > indicating surprise, for "but." Then they asked the subjects to make the > number bigger but still smaller than 2 and to reiterate the procedure. The > subjects got the answer by various means, including the addition of a decimal > place: 1.5, 1.55, 1.555 and so forth. > > Although subjects easily answered simple problems expressed in mathematical > symbols, words continued to stump them. Even the written sentence "seven > minus two" was beyond their comprehension. The results show quite clearly > that no matter how helpful language may be to mathematicians--perhaps as a > mnemonic device--it is not necessary to calculation, and it is processed in > different parts of the brain. > > The idea that language shapes abstract thought was most forcibly propounded > 50 years ago in the posthumously published writings of American linguist > Benjamin Lee Whorf. He argued, among other things, that the structure of the > Hopi language gave its speakers an understanding of time vastly different > from that of Europeans. Although Whorf's hypothesis continues to inspire > research, a good deal of his evidence has been discredited. Much more widely > respected is the proposal, associated with linguist Noam Chomsky of the > Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that language, mathematics and perhaps > other cognition all depend on a deeper quality, sometimes called "mentalese." > > > Chomsky suggested that the key part of this deeper quality might be a quite > simple and uniquely human power of "recursive" calculation. Recursion, he and > his colleagues argue, may explain how the mind spins a limited number of > terms into an infinite number of often complex statements, such as "The man I > know as Joe ate my apple tree's fruit." Recursion could also generate > mathematical statements, such as "3 (4/6 + 27)/4." > Chomsky's theory may, perhaps, be reconciled with the new evidence. Some > scholars have argued that the brain may build its mathematical understanding > with language and that the structure may still stand after the scaffolding is > removed. Indeed, the one subject in the Sheffield study who had had > doctoral-level training in a mathematical science did no better than the > others in arithmetic, but he outperformed them at algebra. > > Rochel Gelman, co-director of the Rutgers University Center for Cognitive > Science, says that the brain-lesion studies offer much clearer evidence than > can be obtained from the more common technique of functional brain scanning. > "Pop someone in a scanner and ask a question, and you may get a lot of > activation in language areas," she points out. "But it could be just because > the subject is talking through the problem--recruiting language, although > it's not a crucial component." > > The recent work, together with studies of animals and of children, strongly > supports the independence of language and mathematics, Gelman says. "There > are cases of kids who are bad with numbers and good with words and bad with > words and good with numbers, a double dissociation that provides converging > evidence." > > Full Text from Scientific American > http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa004&articleID=00082FD0-4578-1289-837D83414B7FFE9F > > Posted By > Robert Karl Stonjek > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Yahoo! Groups Links > > a.. To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/ > > b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. > > > > -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ligia Parra-Esteban. Directora Fundación Voc de Investigación de la Comunicación Entre Científicos. http://mox.uniandes.edu.co/voc Luis H. Blanco. Secretario de la Junta Directiva. Laboratorio de Investigaciones Básicas. Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Camilo Torres. Bogotá. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. |
