Philosophy 102: Is it possible to communicate without using ANY type of language whatsoever, or without using ANY concept of language whatsoever? Why or why not?

Communication and language are distinct but related concepts. Communication is the transfer of information from one person to another (I guess it could also be one place to another, one machine to another, etc). Language is a system of rules that mediates the transfer of information. I don't see how that transfer is effected without any sort of language. In computer terms, there are communication protocols, not sure if they qualify as a language or not.

If by languages you mean only the spoken and written, then yes, communication is possible, though limited in scope.  We can certainly clearly convey many of our feelings, both emotional and physical, without the spoken or written word.  We could also demonstrate how to do many things.    

Definitely, yes.

Instrumental music is not language. It works on emotions.

It communicates, but without specific meanings.

Language takes memes and, using syntax, combines them in multiple ways to produce almost any meaning desired.

Our capacity for language depends upon having a neocortex.

Other animals do not have one.

And yet they clearly understand the behaviours of their kind and other species.

You might call this "body language" but there is a difference between language and signals.

There is no question that animals do communicate with each other in bonding, pairing, fighting, hunting and evading capture.

They do it without language but with smells, postures, behaviour, and vocalisations.

And they read each other with unerring accuracy, much better than people using language.

I definitely do not mean only spoken or written languages. For instance, there is body language, sign language, music is a language, and there are things that communicate information, like mathematics, weather, etc.

That's why I emphasized any type or any concept of language(s), so that in reading the question, one might know that I was communicating about more than just the spoken or written.

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I think you're right in stating that the transfer of information cannot take place absent some type of medium. As for computers, their intercommunication most definitely relies on computer languages (operating systems readily come to mind).

:)

Of course.    We learn by gesture and emotional expression and body language as much or more than words. 

Then we disagree on what defines language, but that's okay.

To completely eliminate body language and sounds that are not a formal language from the equation, people could not see, hear or touch each other...in that case, communication is impossible unless they have a psychic connection.

Smart! :)  I accept your point, Bozette.

I let my argument drop by the wayside, without any ill feeling.

:)

Body language = language.

(Try to keep up.)





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Sure farm animals animals do it all the time nudging eachother.

We are very accustomed to regarding facial expression,bodily posture, gesture, and way of moving as language. Psychologists tell us that these, combined with tone of voice, make up 90% of communication.

But it was only half a century ago that these began to be called or regarded as language. They were deemed such because of their role in communication - but are they really language? What do linguists say?

Can you construct a novel from body language? Can body language communicate quantum physics or the Songs of Innocence and Experience (William Blake)?

The first, sweat.

The second, exercise, hot flushes, fever, love.

LOL  You mean then to be completely immobile and telepathically communicate?

I totally do believe that could happen.  That actually is the most perfect of circumstances to force our inner consciousness to connect. 

Yes.  When you are totally still, with no actual thoughts to express in words, the mind is more like its natural state.  Like a newborn with no gestures.  All we are is awareness.  I believe we connect without words because I have been in that state and it happened to the person I was in that state with.  It was almost terrifying because I did not have the tools to absorb what was happening.  It went on for what seemed like hours.   I could hear his thoughts in my mind and mine in his and we were not even thinking. 

How do I explain it?  I cannot.  But that is what it would be like.   We truly are all ONE consciousness.   

Point taken, sweat does contain water.

Some living beings can drop into torpor at near freezing temperatures, and reptiles are cold-blooded.

But your two questions parallel the original question, whether we can communicate without language.

Your questions imply your answer, no, we cannot.

But my answer is different because I disagree with Randy on the definition of what language is.