Psittacism

Illustration for psittacism: A macaw can imitate human sounds, in this case the macaw says “I love Red Bull ”, but the macaw doesn't even know what Red Bull is.

Psittacism (from the Greek psíttakos "parrot") is in philosophy, according to Leibniz, the "unreflective use of language signs " or, according to Winfried Schröder, "to think or pronounce incompletely or not at all understood". Other definitions are the repetitive speeches, as some birds of the order of Psittaciformes do (parrots) or when people talk and think without having any independent ideas. Psittacism is supposed to be an explanation for the fact that moral goals of action, which are part of the ubiquitous speech of the person and anchored in his consciousness, have no influence on his actions.

literature

Winfried Schröder: Psittacism. In: J. Ritter, K. Founder (Hrsg.): Historical dictionary of philosophy. Volume 7, Schwabe Verlag, Basel 1989, Sp. 1569. DOI: 10.24894 / HWPh.3326