Conclusion
To the question, Why study language?, Descartes answers, Because it is that something
which we can observe and which clearly distinguishes humans from animals
Note that Descartes has a religious agenda (ß60).
For Descartes, possessing a ësoulí also distinguishes humans from animals, but the ësoulí is unobservable.
Is it true that language is all that different from the communication systems of animals?
Over the next few weeks we will look at:
The possibility that language arose from animal communication,that it is a more
sophisticated kind of communication system
Later, we will examine differences and similarities between language acquisition and learning in animals.
Finally, we will see that in addition to its function as a medium for communication ideas, language also functions in much the same way as an animal communication system, although not in the way in which we superficially expect.