The intelligent mind: On the genesis and constitution of discursive thought

Abstract

The Intelligent Mind investigates the psychological emergence and reality of language and thought, whose comprehension is barred by the prevailing dogmas of mind/body dualism, of the reduction of mind to consciousness, and of the identification of consciousness with discursive awareness. Repudiating these dogmas, The Intelligent Mind shows how minds that do not yet speak or think can generate and acquire discursive rationality. Overcoming the mystery of the origin and learning of language, this book explores how the development of language diverges from the development of thinking, despite the dependence of thought upon linguistic intelligence. Drawing upon Hegel and a wide range of more recent philosophical, as well as psychological and linguistic, research, The Intelligent Mind explains how semiotic imagination and grammar enable mind to advance from imagery to imageless concepts. Although this leaves thinking in need of language to transcend figurative representation, it is shown how the protean generative character of language enables thought to be autonomous and to theorize truly about itself.