[FRIAM] OK. That's funny.

[Prof David West]

I would be skeptical of the possibility.

Studies in Neuro-Theology and Cognitive Anthropology might discover (and have)discovered) "universals:" e.g. suppression of activity in a specific brain location decreases one's sense of separation from the Universe; Xenophobia; etc. Other studies show interesting correlations: e.g. One's direct experience of "God" correlated with, what Sheldon called, Somatotype (endomorphs like St. Theresa experiences emotional/sexual rapture, ectomorphs like St. John as intellectual discourse). But there has, so far, been no evidence of any kind of "generative" link between universal primitives and the vast diversity of belief expressions.

By the way, Chomsky was full of it.   *:)*

davew
 

On Wed, Aug 5, 2020, at 12:04 PM, jon zingale wrote:
> FWIW, I occasionally entertain the idea of a *Universal Grammar* for
> belief[⍦].
> The idea being that there may be some genetic component of the belief
> faculty,
> and that by analogy to universal grammar, one acquires competence in one's
> own
> beliefs through performance[⌂][◇]. At any moment, a person makes decisions
> and
> suffers the reality that they did or did not believe what they thought they
> might. Here, I am defining belief more narrowly than most. For me, beliefs
> are
> necessarily discovered, and not the kind of thing one 'discovers' by
> considering
> hypotheticals. Alternatively, it feels wonderful to reject *-archies in
> favor
> of rhizomatic thought[⍼], à la, "A Thousand Plateaus". Taken together, an
> invigorating experience akin to visiting a sauna with a cold plunge.
> 
> [⍦] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_grammar
> 
> [◇] The connection I am drawing to Glen's linked paper is to:
> 1. similarities between alethic and doxastic modalities.
> 2. highlighted tensions between constructivist and analytical modalities.
> 
> [⌂] I think of a theory of this kind as weakly rejecting the notion of
> Peircean
> truth. Different individuals, with different biologically determined
> universal
> belief structures, would ultimately believe different things in the long
> run.
> What would be considered truth, in the long run, could only then be a
> tragedy
> of intersectional beliefs.
> 
> [⍼] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizome_(philosophy)
> 
> 
> 
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