Let us go back to the statement that
thinking essentially consists in operating with signs.
My point was that it is liable to mislead us if we say thinking
is a mental activity. The question what kind of an
activity thinking is is analogous to this:
“Where does thinking take place?”
We can answer: on paper, in our head, in the mind.
None of these statements of locality gives
the
locality of thinking. The use of all these
specifications is correct but we must not be misled by the
similarity of their linguistic forms into a false conception
of their grammar. As, e.g., when
you say: “Surely, the
real place of
thought is in our head”. The same applies to the
idea of thinking as an activity. It is correct to say
that thinking is an activity of our writing hand, of our larynx, of
our head, and
25.
of our mind, so long as we
understand the grammar of these statements. And it
is, furthermore, extremely important to realise how by
misunderstanding the grammar of our expressions, we are led to
think of one i
n particular of these statements as giving
the
real seat of the activity of thinking.