This document summarizes the views of several philosophers on language, mind, and consciousness. It discusses Blaise Pascal's view that imagination is a powerful force that can lead us to truth or error. It also outlines Noam Chomsky's theory of language being biologically determined and having deep and surface structures. Finally, it notes John Searle's view that consciousness is a real subjective experience caused by the brain, and David Chalmers' "hard problem of consciousness" regarding why feelings accompany awareness.

1. Language and Mind

2. BLAISE PASCAL
 Imagination is the most powerful force in human
beings, and one of our chief sources of error.
 “Man is but a reed, the weakest nature; yet he is
a thinking reed”.
 Pascal’s Wager – betting that God does not exist
risks losing a great deal (infinite happiness in
Heaven), while only gaining a little (a finite sense of
independence in this world)—but betting that God
exists risks little while gaining a great deal. It is more
rational, on this basis, to believe in God.

3. • Imagination is a powerful force in human beings.
• It can override our reason.
• But it can lead either to truths or falsehoods.
• We may see beauty, justice, or happiness where it does not really
exist.
• Imagination leads us astray.

4. JACQUES DERRIDA
 “We are all mediators, translators”.
 Deconstruction - a complex and nuanced approach
to how we read and understand the nature of written
texts.
 “We think only in signs”.
 “I never give in to the temptation to be difficult
just for the sake of being difficult”.

6. NOAM CHOMSKY
 Chomsky's linguistic theory is rooted in biolinguistics,
holding that the principles underlying the structure of
language are biologically determined in the human mind
and hence genetically transmitted.
 Language is a unique evolutionary development of the
human species and is unlike modes of communication
used by any other animal species.

7.  Language consists of both deep structures and
surface structures. Surface structure 'faces out' and
is represented by spoken utterances, while deep
structure 'faces inward' and expresses the
underlying relations between words and conceptual
meaning.
 Transformational grammar is a generative grammar.
 The transformational grammar relates meaning and
sound.
NOAM CHOMSKY

8. JOHN SEARLE
 Starting with behaviorism, much of modern philosophy
has tried to deny the existence of consciousness, with
little success.
 Consciousness is a real subjective experience, caused
by the physical processes of the brain.
 Any value judgment is epistemically subjective.
 Where consciousness is concerned, the existence of the
appearance is the reality.
 "Chinese room“ .

9. David Chalmers
 Hard problem of consciousness – “why does
the feeling which accompanies awareness of
sensory information exist at all?”
 “Philosophical zombie” - hypothetical being that
from the outside is indistinguishable from a normal
human being but lacks conscious experience, qualia,
or sentience.