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In Zoltan Torey's The Conscious Mind, the author discusses the epigenesis of language:

Characterizing human language by its construction, linguists constantly treat the atomic units in our speech, either the words themselves or the concepts for which they stand, as if they already existed, ready-made and in advance of speech.

—Jacob Bronowski, A Sense of the Future (1977)

I was translating "The Conscious Mind" book when encountered this quote. In fact, I don't have an access to "A Sense of the Future" content, and haven't found a satisfying summary to know the meaning of "Sense" in the title. Does it mean "feeling" or "meaning"?

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    Most likely "understanding" (as in, understanding what the future will be like). Could also be "feeling" (as in, feeling a certain attitude about the future). Or a combination of the two – causative Aug 31 '23 at 08:07
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    Unlikely to be "meaning"; he's not going to write a book about the definition of the word "future." – causative Aug 31 '23 at 08:14
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    See Ch.1: it is linked to the idea of progress of human society and growth of knowledge about the universe, driven by science. Thus, it is both goal and direction. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Aug 31 '23 at 08:21
  • It means the same as in "let me give you a sense of things to come", relate some intuitions about the future, in this case. According to [Doyle's review](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/403571), the title does not reflect the book's contents:"*This, then, is a useful collection for anyone who wants to know what an eminent and articulate scientist thought of his art. The only criticisms I have are these: first, the title is a little misleading (how about "A Sense of Science"?); and, second, there is some repetition of thought*". – Conifold Aug 31 '23 at 11:54

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