This dialogue on thought and language is a sequel to my dialogue ‘Thought and Thinking’, but can be read independently of it. The five disputants are the same as in the previous dialogue, namely Socrates; an imaginary neuroscientist from California (whose opinions reflect those of contemporary cognitive neuroscientists); an Oxford don from the 1950s (who employs the linguistic analytic techniques of his times); a Scottish post-doctoral student; and John Locke (who speaks for himself). The discussion takes place in Elysium in the early evening after dinner. They discuss the relationship between what one thinks and what one says, examine the reasons for supposing that there must be a language of thought and show why there cannot be one, investigate the supposition that thought must have a medium – that one must think in something (words, ideas, pre-linguistic concepts) – and demonstrate that it cannot have one. They investigate whether there can be non-linguistic thinking and whether non language-using animals can be said to think, and determine the limits of thought and thinking.

中文翻译：

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一种智力娱乐：思想和语言

这个关于思想和语言的对话是我对话“思想和思考”的续集，但可以独立阅读。五位争论者与前面对话中的相同，即苏格拉底；来自加利福尼亚的虚构神经科学家（其观点反映了当代认知神经科学家的观点）；1950 年代的牛津大学校长（他采用了他那个时代的语言分析技术）；苏格兰博士后；和约翰洛克（为自己说话）。晚饭后的傍晚，讨论在极乐世界进行。他们讨论了一个人的想法和一个人所说的之间的关系，研究了假设必须有一种思想语言的原因并说明为什么不能有一种语言，研究思想必须有一种媒介的假设——一个人必须在某事中思考（文字、想法、前语言概念）——并证明它不可能有一个。他们调查是否可以存在非语言思维，以及非语言动物是否可以说是思维，并确定思维和思维的界限。