Refutation of Chomsky?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/24/2010 12:11 PM, David A. Daniel wrote:
>What a coincidence. About two hours ago I watched a Myth Busters in which
>they busted the myth that chili peppers would act as a shark repellant.
>Didn't seem to bother the sharks at all. So my tweak to the peppers theory
>would be: Man is the only animal that both feels the burning sensation,
>which seems to be a mammalian thing, and likes it. BTW, if anyone is
>interested, the burn you feel from capsaicin is an illusion, it and your
>brain get together to play a trick on you.

The NYTimes article doesn't mention sharks, but does discuss the fact
(theory?) that the pepper sensation is not a "taste" but a "burning",
which the mind interprets as a taste.

Joel

>DAD
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>Joel S. Berson
>Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 11:15 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Refutation of Chomsky?*
>
>
>It is not language that distinguishes humans from all other animals.
>
>"Philosophers have often looked for the defining
>feature of humans - language, rationality,
>culture and so on. I'd stick with this: Man is
>the only animal that likes Tabasco
>sauce."[1].  (I would add primatologists and linguists.)
>
>"There's not a single animal that likes hot peppers."[2][3]
>
>[1]   Paul Bloom, a Yale psychologist
>[2]   Paul Rozin, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist.
>[3]   Animals of certain classes.  Birds have no
>problem with capsican.  [Gorman,.]
>
>In "A Perk of Our Evolution: Pleasure in Pain of
>Chilies," by James Gorman, "Science Times," The
>New York Times, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2010, Page D1.
>http://tinyurl.com/28zupcv
>
>Perhaps we can call this the "Paul Hypothesis."
>
>* If this is not one of Chomsky's theses, but
>that of other linguists, I apologize to him and to the members of this list.
>
>Joel
>
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