Language and Social Cooperation: What Makes Humans Unique?

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Humans are unique because we collectively create and share complex systems of meaning through language. Both Charles Sanders Peirce and Terrence Deacon argue that human language is unique because both the words (“vehicles”) and their meanings (“referents”) are socially constructed through collective human interaction. This deep social cooperation forms language and enables our capacity for abstract thought, demonstrating that our complex communication and understanding depend on our uniquely evolved cooperative interactions.

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Tags: Charles Sanders Peirce, Cooperation, language, Terrence Deacon