Thinking about Thinking

Abstract

There is an old joke about the man who lost his wallet and was looking for it under the one bright lamp on an otherwise dark street. A stranger stops to help and after an unsuccessful search asks him if he is sure he lost the wallet here. The man replies that, no, he lost it in the dark down the road but is searching for it here because the light is better. We encounter this better light dilemma in any attempt to discuss thinking because the medium we are using for our discussion consists of the written or spoken symbols of a language system. But word recognition is not necessarily word understanding. We may recognize every word someone uses and yet not understand the idea he or she is trying to convey. Unfortunately, talking about thinking is easier than thinking about thinking because one can see or hear the words.