terry,
if you equate organ=tool
and organisms are defined by having organs
wouldn't your equation lead to the conclusion that organisms consist of
tools?
the problem with your equation organ=tool is the implied instrumentality in
the word tool. tools are always applied to something in order to accomplish
something. this is not the case with organisms. the heart of a mammal is
not an organism's tool to accomplish blood circulation. the point of this
example is that organisms do not organize themselves according to the
rationality of their observers. they have little if any option. and to
organize, making something into an organism has a lot of entailments that
are typical of organisms, harmonious working together, balancing essential
quantities, etc.
but all of this is secondary to the issue of whether information is an
entity that you can search for, gather, or organize. this objectification
hides the human participation in what is information, manifest in many of
your assertions, including in your distinction between old and new
information.
i suggested to you to look into information theory where information is the
difference between two states of uncertainty, before or after something was
read or attended to. when conceptualizing information this way, it makes no
sense to speak of old and new information or gathering information, or
organizing information.
klaus
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Terence
Love
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 8:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Design as Research?
Hi Klaus,
If you read my message carefully, I didn't suggest in the slightest that an
organ is the tool of organism. I simply said that 'organ' = tool. The suffix
'ise' means to use whatever is before it. Hence, to 'organise' means to
apply a tool.
The source was 'Organ' [ME, partly fr. OE 'organa', fr. L, 'organum', fr.
Gk 'organon', lit., tool, instrument; partly fr. AF 'organe', fr, L
'organum'; akin Gk 'ergon' work - see more at WORK] from Mirriam Websters
Collegiate 11th Edition, p 874.
This Mirriam also gives 'organise' something similar to what you describe,
but Eduardo was proposing to redefine 'organise' using 'organ' (rather than
vice versa) so it makes more sense to look at the root meaning of 'organ'
(also as organise' derives from 'organ').
Best wishes,
Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: Klaus Krippendorff [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, 30 September 2008 1:50 AM
To: 'Terence Love'; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Design as Research?
according to oed, to organize means arranging something like an organism.
the metaphor of the organism entails harmoniously collaborating, forming a
operationally consistent unity. where did you, terry, get the idea from
that an organ is the tool of an organism?
klaus
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Terence
Love
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 6:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Design as Research?
Hi Eduardo,
The word 'organ' means an instrumental 'tool'.
To organise means to apply such a tool.
Best,
terry
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