Humans are thinking animals, we can think and we can imagine.
The unique human capability to recombine words into numerous varieties of new meanings contributes to our ability of thinking. Researchers have found that monkeys can count up to four only and it is thought that the human ability to count higher numbers came only after we developed language. Language is the primary means of communication. The ability to communicate is the foundation of human civilization.
We learn through observation, communication, and interactions. Children learn from parents and society through communication and interaction. A Harvard professor of psychology Marc Hauser found in his research that other animals have interesting thoughts but they can only convey those by gestures or grunts, shrieks, etc. Hauser remarks, “When humans evolved speech, they liberated the kinds of thoughts nonhumans have. Feedback between language and thinking then boosted human self-awareness and other cognitive functions.”
Thoughts and imagination lead to discovery, invention, conviction, and knowledge. Thinking is triggered by information that reaches us through communication. Thus, communication is important in the growth of human knowledge.
Interactions and the exchange of thoughts add to the stock of knowledge. New ideas lead to newer ideas. As George Bernard Shaw put it, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
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This article was published in the Daily Sun on August 24, 2022. Please read the full article here or here.