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In a message dated 2/16/05 12:46:56 AM, bdick@scu.edu.au writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE CITE STYLE="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE"></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Geneva" FAMILY="SANSSERIF" SIZE="2">It seems to me that language obliges us to carve up an indivisible<BR>
world into pieces. Language works by categorising, even though the<BR>
world doesn't come in the categories that language provides.<BR>
<BR>
When all divisions vanish, though, doesn't that make language<BR>
impossible? And then what?<BR>
<BR>
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Bob--<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
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).<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
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.<BR>
<BR>
Joelle Everett<BR>
Shelton, Washington, USA<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
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