Jan 19, 2025 12:15 AM
https://iai.tv/articles/the-metaphysics-..._auid=2020
INTRO: For many, aliens only exist in the realm of science fiction. But regardless of whether aliens exist or not, the potential existence of extraterrestrial species throws into question our entire metaphysical framework, which has long gone unchallenged. In particular, we would need to rethink our understanding of language, which currently determines how we experience our world. But what if there were other languages out there that better captured reality? For theoretical philosopher Matti Eklund, these are the questions philosophy needs to be asking.
EXCERPT: In my recent book Alien Structure: Language and Reality (Oxford University Press, 2024), I discuss what possible languages there can be, focusing on the possibility of languages whose expressions have different kinds of meaning. This has consequences for broader philosophical issues.
Languages present the world as being in different ways depending on what kinds of meanings their expressions have. Already the kind of language that Borges describes arguably illustrates this. Some philosophers, prominent examples are Alfred North Whitehead and Wilfrid Sellars, have held that we should favor process ontologies – according to which the world fundamentally consists of processes – over ontologies that put things at center stage. Some such philosophers, Sellars among them, think languages much like that envisaged by Borges present the world the most faithfully.
If there are more radically unfamiliar languages, then they present the world as being in different ways still. We are accustomed to thinking of the world as consisting of things and processes, corresponding to nouns and verbs. It is hard for us to see how the world could be different in kind from this. But maybe that is due only to our lack of imagination.
My own interest in the issue of what I call alien languages is unabashedly theoretical. It relates to these metaphysical issues. What is the structure of the world? Can it be faithfully presented by a familiar language? Or only by a more alien language? Or is the structure of the world ineffable – beyond the reach of all languages, both alien and familiar? There are other possibilities too. Maybe the world does not have a privileged structure, and familiar and alien languages describe the world equally well. But considering the possibility of alien languages also has other kinds of applications... (MORE - missing details)
INTRO: For many, aliens only exist in the realm of science fiction. But regardless of whether aliens exist or not, the potential existence of extraterrestrial species throws into question our entire metaphysical framework, which has long gone unchallenged. In particular, we would need to rethink our understanding of language, which currently determines how we experience our world. But what if there were other languages out there that better captured reality? For theoretical philosopher Matti Eklund, these are the questions philosophy needs to be asking.
EXCERPT: In my recent book Alien Structure: Language and Reality (Oxford University Press, 2024), I discuss what possible languages there can be, focusing on the possibility of languages whose expressions have different kinds of meaning. This has consequences for broader philosophical issues.
Languages present the world as being in different ways depending on what kinds of meanings their expressions have. Already the kind of language that Borges describes arguably illustrates this. Some philosophers, prominent examples are Alfred North Whitehead and Wilfrid Sellars, have held that we should favor process ontologies – according to which the world fundamentally consists of processes – over ontologies that put things at center stage. Some such philosophers, Sellars among them, think languages much like that envisaged by Borges present the world the most faithfully.
If there are more radically unfamiliar languages, then they present the world as being in different ways still. We are accustomed to thinking of the world as consisting of things and processes, corresponding to nouns and verbs. It is hard for us to see how the world could be different in kind from this. But maybe that is due only to our lack of imagination.
My own interest in the issue of what I call alien languages is unabashedly theoretical. It relates to these metaphysical issues. What is the structure of the world? Can it be faithfully presented by a familiar language? Or only by a more alien language? Or is the structure of the world ineffable – beyond the reach of all languages, both alien and familiar? There are other possibilities too. Maybe the world does not have a privileged structure, and familiar and alien languages describe the world equally well. But considering the possibility of alien languages also has other kinds of applications... (MORE - missing details)