>
>
> Mairian
>
> P.S. For those who've asked about my 'third eye' all it means is question
> assumptions, especially of the 'either/or' sort. Things are rarely what
> they seem and everything has a context.
>
Hi Mairian and those who asked re references to G Bateson
Following on from my Bateson posting - and in regard to your 'third eye'
and the notion of everything having a context. Bateson uses the
Epimenides' paradox (below) to illustrate how the message 'this is play'
establishes a paradoxical frame.
_____________________
All statements within this |
frame are untrue. |
|
I love you |
I hate you |
_____________________|
We notice here that the first statement is self contradictory. If its true then
its false and vice versa. It also carries with it all other statements within the
frame - so if the first statement is true then all the other statements must
be false and vice versa.
Bateson now claims that it is the 'logically minded' people who will notice a
non-sequitur. "It could be argued that even if the first statement is false,
there reamins a logical possibility that *some* of the other statements in
the frame are untrue. It is, however, a characteristic of unconscious or
'primary process' thinking that the thinker is unable to discriminate
between 'some' and 'all', and unable to discriminate between 'not all' and
'none'. It seems that the achievement of these discriminations is
performed by a higher or more conscious mental process.."
I have tried this little conundrum with several classes and no-one ever has
spotted the other logical possibility. I would disagree that it is 'logically'
minded people who notice the non-sequitur but rather, those people who
are able to use their third eye?
>From memory, and if I read you correctly, you also mentioned in your
post Mairian, that the humour of Deaf people is sometimes not understood
by non-deaf people. That is really very interesting particularly if the type
of humour is what we may refer to as a 'play on' words, puns, satire,
parody etc. Humour, in particular, parody has been used for centuries to
mock the official order (see Bakhtin's Carnival). I guess if its 'real life' that
humour seeks to represent in its various forms we need to consider that
the real lives of Deaf people are going to be different to the real lives of
non-deaf people culturally and linguistically.
Bateson G (1973[1955]) 'a theory of play and fantasy' in Steps to an
ecology of mind. UK, Paladin
Best regards
Laurence Bathurst
School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Sydney
P.O. Box 170
Lidcombe NSW 2141
Australia
Phone: (62 1) 9351 9509
Fax: (62 1) 9351 9166
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please visit the School's interim web site at
http://www.ot.cchs.usyd.edu.au
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Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious
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