On self-organizing

Joelle Lyons Everett JLEShelton at aol.com
Wed Feb 16 12:45:19 PST 2005


In a message dated 2/16/05 12:46:56 AM, bdick at scu.edu.au writes:


> It seems to me that language obliges us to carve up an indivisible
> world into pieces.  Language works by categorising, even though the
> world doesn't come in the categories that language provides.
> 
> When all divisions vanish, though, doesn't that make language
> impossible?  And then what?
> 
> 
Bob--

For a fascinating discussion of this subject, have a look at The Spell of the 
Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World, by David Abram.

I'm not sure that language is the cause of categories--there's research that 
shows that even the brains of birds have categories, which are filled in by 
the specifics of their environment (for example, the categories of prey and 
predators are filled by the available prey and the common predators of the 
neighborhood where the bird lives).

I don't think that it is the categories that get us in trouble; but rather 
our tendency to judge based on categories, rather than responding to the 
specific situation that confronts us.

Your question about the effect on language of divisions vanishing is an 
intriguing one.   I don't know that language would be impossible, but many of the 
things we now say might become unnecessary.

Joelle Everett
Shelton, Washington, USA



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