Friday, January 11, 2008
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
WORDS on Blogs, Forums, and in Articles
WORDS on Blogs, Forums, and in Articles
Of all the mediums of communication, by far the most difficult to convey exactly what one means, is 'words only,' and by far English being the most fully expressive language for everything, is the most difficult to learn.
Words transform concepts into (mental) entities; definitions provide them with identity. (Words without definitions are not language but inarticulate sounds)
It is often said that definitions state the meaning of words. This is true, but it is not exact.
A word is merely a visual-auditory symbol used to represent a concept; a word has no meaning other than that of the concept it symbolizes, and the meaning of a concept consists of its units. It is not words, but the concepts that man defines--by specifying there referents.
Many words and their definitions have become prostituted, in English, as well as other languages. The words also used in some languages and their meaning; do not represent the concept it symbolizes exactly the same in another language.
Incorrect use of said words can actually get you killed, even though your concept was the not meant as an insult uttered by you, but a different concept heard or read by another. This is especially true in a language that uses one word to convey more than a single concept. I know this from experience and the loss of a friend over a mistaken word and it's concept by another.
To use a simple and probably well known and prostituted word by most as an example; The word Gay. Used in a simple sentence, such as "I went to a gay bar." and what the words definition means and what it has become to mean are two different concepts. Properly, I went to a bar and had a 'grand and joyful' time.
Prostituted, "I'm a homosexual, and went to a bar where homosexuals gather." That word, and many more like it in English, as well as other languages has lost the concept of what it originally meant and was understood to mean.
In order to be used as a single unit, the enormous sum integrated by a concept has to be give the form of a SINGLE, specific, perceptual concrete, which will differentiate it from all other concretes and from all other concepts. This is the function of language.
language is a code of visual-auditory symbols that serves the function of converting concepts into the mental equivalent of concretes. Language is the exclusive domain and tool of concepts. Every word we use (with the exception of proper names) is a symbol that denotes a concept, i.e., that stands for an unlimited number of concretes of a certain kind.
Even though a child in the beginning does not (and need not) originate and form every concept on his own, by observing every aspect of reality confronting him, he has to perform the process of differentiating and integrating perceptual concretes, in order to grasp the meaning of words. If a child's brain is physically damaged and unable to perform the process, he does not learn to speak.
Learning to speak does not consist of memorizing sound's--that is the process by which a parrot learns to "speak." Learning consists of grasping meanings, i.e., of grasping the referents of words, the kinds of existents that words denote in reality.
When we are talking with someone in a physical reality, one on one, all of our 'senses" are at work, as the words we use, are also being conveyed by our body language, our tone of voice and in certain situations by all other senses.
Even the phone, where only one sense is at work, can convey the wrong concept, even tough you say or hear the word, and it's tone expressed. You still hold a better chance of being understood, as quick corrections in the concepts your conveying can be quickly change with a different word, or different tone.
Those methods at times, can even be more difficult, and often misunderstood more because of the senses involved, than in a form where all you have is your 'sight' and the words you read, or in the words you write.
"STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES, BUT WORDS (NAMES) WILL NEVER HURT ME. - Although a physical attack may harm me, I am not bothered by cruel words or name-calling. I don't care what you're saying. This children's taunt was first listed in 'Folk Phrases of Four Counties' (1894) by G.F. Northall and is first attested in the United States in 'Miss Lindsey' (1936) by S.G. Gibbons.
In the above children's taunt, both are true, though some may think the first is far more painful, but physical pain can heal and be forgotten, words and the concepts they convey sometimes are never forgotten, and like the old saying "An elephant never forgets."
Those of us who write on Forums, Blogs, or in Articles, and those who read have a responsibility to not only convey the correct concept, but to also understand what the concepts referent is. The duty falls to both, not just one. With words you can convey every emotion and nearly ever sense you have, if writing and reading are done correctly.
Yes, misunderstandings will occur, as none of us has a perfect command of the language we use, nor the concepts we are trying to convey. However when they occur, a "private" dialog between the offended or thought to be offended parties, can be resolved by re-conveying the concepts one meant with more clarity and rational effort. Resolving those misunderstandings however can not be resolved in a 'free for all' involving more than the offended parties.
Everything I write, be it technical information, or personal. I read it back to myself, then read it again out loud, so I can hear what I'm saying, my tone of voice, my inflections, and most of all my meaning. Sometimes depending on the article I record and play it back.
I suggest it as a habit we could all use more often, before we ever press the submit button. You may not be able to reach the stars, but you can reach the moon.
Of all the mediums of communication, by far the most difficult to convey exactly what one means, is 'words only,' and by far English being the most fully expressive language for everything, is the most difficult to learn.
Words transform concepts into (mental) entities; definitions provide them with identity. (Words without definitions are not language but inarticulate sounds)
It is often said that definitions state the meaning of words. This is true, but it is not exact.
A word is merely a visual-auditory symbol used to represent a concept; a word has no meaning other than that of the concept it symbolizes, and the meaning of a concept consists of its units. It is not words, but the concepts that man defines--by specifying there referents.
Many words and their definitions have become prostituted, in English, as well as other languages. The words also used in some languages and their meaning; do not represent the concept it symbolizes exactly the same in another language.
Incorrect use of said words can actually get you killed, even though your concept was the not meant as an insult uttered by you, but a different concept heard or read by another. This is especially true in a language that uses one word to convey more than a single concept. I know this from experience and the loss of a friend over a mistaken word and it's concept by another.
To use a simple and probably well known and prostituted word by most as an example; The word Gay. Used in a simple sentence, such as "I went to a gay bar." and what the words definition means and what it has become to mean are two different concepts. Properly, I went to a bar and had a 'grand and joyful' time.
Prostituted, "I'm a homosexual, and went to a bar where homosexuals gather." That word, and many more like it in English, as well as other languages has lost the concept of what it originally meant and was understood to mean.
In order to be used as a single unit, the enormous sum integrated by a concept has to be give the form of a SINGLE, specific, perceptual concrete, which will differentiate it from all other concretes and from all other concepts. This is the function of language.
language is a code of visual-auditory symbols that serves the function of converting concepts into the mental equivalent of concretes. Language is the exclusive domain and tool of concepts. Every word we use (with the exception of proper names) is a symbol that denotes a concept, i.e., that stands for an unlimited number of concretes of a certain kind.
Even though a child in the beginning does not (and need not) originate and form every concept on his own, by observing every aspect of reality confronting him, he has to perform the process of differentiating and integrating perceptual concretes, in order to grasp the meaning of words. If a child's brain is physically damaged and unable to perform the process, he does not learn to speak.
Learning to speak does not consist of memorizing sound's--that is the process by which a parrot learns to "speak." Learning consists of grasping meanings, i.e., of grasping the referents of words, the kinds of existents that words denote in reality.
When we are talking with someone in a physical reality, one on one, all of our 'senses" are at work, as the words we use, are also being conveyed by our body language, our tone of voice and in certain situations by all other senses.
Even the phone, where only one sense is at work, can convey the wrong concept, even tough you say or hear the word, and it's tone expressed. You still hold a better chance of being understood, as quick corrections in the concepts your conveying can be quickly change with a different word, or different tone.
Those methods at times, can even be more difficult, and often misunderstood more because of the senses involved, than in a form where all you have is your 'sight' and the words you read, or in the words you write.
"STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES, BUT WORDS (NAMES) WILL NEVER HURT ME. - Although a physical attack may harm me, I am not bothered by cruel words or name-calling. I don't care what you're saying. This children's taunt was first listed in 'Folk Phrases of Four Counties' (1894) by G.F. Northall and is first attested in the United States in 'Miss Lindsey' (1936) by S.G. Gibbons.
In the above children's taunt, both are true, though some may think the first is far more painful, but physical pain can heal and be forgotten, words and the concepts they convey sometimes are never forgotten, and like the old saying "An elephant never forgets."
Those of us who write on Forums, Blogs, or in Articles, and those who read have a responsibility to not only convey the correct concept, but to also understand what the concepts referent is. The duty falls to both, not just one. With words you can convey every emotion and nearly ever sense you have, if writing and reading are done correctly.
Yes, misunderstandings will occur, as none of us has a perfect command of the language we use, nor the concepts we are trying to convey. However when they occur, a "private" dialog between the offended or thought to be offended parties, can be resolved by re-conveying the concepts one meant with more clarity and rational effort. Resolving those misunderstandings however can not be resolved in a 'free for all' involving more than the offended parties.
Everything I write, be it technical information, or personal. I read it back to myself, then read it again out loud, so I can hear what I'm saying, my tone of voice, my inflections, and most of all my meaning. Sometimes depending on the article I record and play it back.
I suggest it as a habit we could all use more often, before we ever press the submit button. You may not be able to reach the stars, but you can reach the moon.
Atlas Shrugs in Venezuela..as a lone voice crys out!
The opposition denounces a huge fraud but not even the international organism and observers listened. Everyone said that the Electoral council was very objective and didn’t try to help neither the government nor the opposition. And now take a look, that “objective, neutral” man… Jorge Rodríguez slaps everyone in the face by being the right hand of Mr. Chávez, nothing less and nothing more than the vice president. And now some international observers say that they have some doubts about the latest election process in Venezuela; too late my friends, just too late.
It's too late is correct, written by Julia in her blog The end of Venezuela as I know it
"This is a blog about Venezuela from inside. The silent scream of someone who has lost a fight but still cant shut her mouth. Before start reading I must warn you: I dont speak english, so excuses in advance for all the following grammar and spelling mistakes"
To obtain a full view, as you watch a country die, read Venezuela, Your Three Minutes Are Up
Column by Jeffrey Perren - Feb 20, 2007 The Atlasphere
In January 1969, Ayn Rand published an essay titled “The ‘Inexplicable Personal Alchemy,’” in which she discussed a New York Times editorial about the Soviet trial of several young dissidents. After hearing his sentence for the crime of merely speaking his mind about the Soviet Union’s then-recent invasion, one of the young men stated, “For three minutes in Red Square, I felt free. For that, I’m happy to take your three years.”
These words rang in my ears as I read Julia's blog. History has an unfortunate way of repeating itself.
Not only is history repeating itself, it's also happening in the United States as well, and as I sit back and watch having shrugged many years ago, these words of Rands below ring in my ears, as they do in Jerrrey Perren's.....just differently.
The truly deliberately evil men are a very small minority, it is the appeasers who unleashes them on mankind; it is the appeaser's intellectual abdication that invites them to take over. When a culture's dominant trend is geared to irrationality, the thugs win over the appeasers. When intellectual leaders fail to foster the best in the mixed, uninformed, vacillating character of people at large, the thugs are sure to bring out the worst. When the ablest men turn into cowards, the average men turn into brutes.
Watch Julia's blog as she may not live long enough to keep writing, as you watch a country die and a lone voice cry out...it's too late!
The United States, does not need to philosophically return to a morality...it needs to discover it.
I quote from Galt's' speech: "Man has been called a rational being, but rationality is a matter of choice--and the alternative his nature offers him is; rational being or suicidal animal. Man has to be man--by choice; he has to hold his life as a value--by choice; he has to learn to sustain it--by choice he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues--by choice. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality."
If man choses to live, a rational ethics will tell him what principles of action are required to implement his choice. If he does not chose to live, nature will take it's course.
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