ABSTRACT
An International Conference on Thinking is presumably concerned with an activity which is distinctive of men and lies at the very roots of their other activities. Yet, thinking itself is seldom directly paid attention to, as what we normally know are only its results, that is, thought. It is with thought that we are usually concerned, the thought of others as embodied in language— the language that we ourselves know. The understanding of what someone else has said and the finding of fault with it constitute the largest part of what goes on under the title of intellectual activity in the world. For example, the teaching-and-learning process in any educational institution usually consists in someone explaining to students what someone else has said and testing them for their capacity to reproduce what was said.
