Joseph Benedict Logsdon

Symbol Versus Concept: an Objective Analysis of Communication and Thought Joseph Benedict Logsdon

When one person attempts to communicate with another person, the former person transmits a symbol in an attempt to convey a concept. The symbol could be a spoken or written word, a facial expression, a picture, etc. In order for the communication to be successful, it is necessary that the concepts of both people be adequately close. This book reveals some of the consequences of people's longstanding and virtually universal insistence upon conflating symbols with concepts. This common logical fallacy manifests itself in many ways-which range from apparently harmless longstanding paradoxes to serious disagreements between groups of people.