Originally Posted by benjamin
I think I see what you're saying. A friend of mine told me about a metaphysics problem one of his comp sci professors told him about. The scenario is this:
You're talking to an alien on another planet, but you don't know where the planet is and you don't know what the alien looks like. The alien can speak and understand English and understands as much math as you can explain. Now describe right and left.
If I've accurately repeated it, there is no solution to this problem. (I'll check with my friend the next time I talk to him.)
The point is that articulating abstractions isn't impossible as long as there is a common framework between two people. "Right" and "left" are totally arbitrary words for a spatial concept -- movement in two or more dimensions.
I dont think right and left is so complicated to explain... Just tell the alien that its on either side of an vertical axis (real or imaginary)... in some case Human body being the axis or anthing else! I think that it really is a lack of vocabulary, I myself have a hard time trying to explain thing in englsih but i have no problem to explain them in french as it is my first language, and that i read alot in french...