Klaus, Norm, et al.
This is why we have senses of words, and contexts for statements.
If I'm feeling 'blue', it's just another way of saying I'm depressed.
If I say the car is 'black', I'm not saying it's a black hole, but it is
black in the context of that particular car surrounded by other things
that may or may not also be black. We know that because we've all got
that shared context. A Maori might not, but that would be because he
doesn't have the same context.
To understand what someone else is saying, we need to know their
context, and we can come to know a context if we choose to, at least
well enough to eventually reach an understanding of what the other
person is saying.
Just because these labels we call words can be used in different
contexts and in different senses doesn't mean we should doubt that
others can see, experience, or find reasonable the same things we see,
experience, or find reasonable.
All it means is that 'language' sucks as a means of communicating those
experiences.
Cheers.
Fil
PS: Klaus, I recently attended an 'art show' at the elementary school my
kids attend. You'd be surprised how many pictures there were of
oriental people with yellow-coloured skin, american indians with
red-coloured skin, etc. And this is even evident my kids' textbooks
(albeit far more attenuated).
Klaus Krippendorff wrote:
> [...]
> but colors is only an example of the fact that we shouldn't take for
> granted that people see, experience, or find reasonable what i see,
> experience, and find perfectly sensible to say.
>
> klaus
> [...]
> Behalf Of *Norm Sheehan
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 25, 2005 1:34 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Car & theory
>
> Hi all
>
> colour is more than subjective...it is also relational...linked in
> various patternings to mood, metaphor, context, culture &
> psychobiology...Itten, Albers Csikszentmihalyi* *and Mausfeld & Heyer
>
> A blue car is quite different from a blue day; a blue moon; a blue
> (Aussie slang);a blue movie; a blue ribbon ... we all know red cars
> go faster...but red theories?
> [...]
> Norm
--
Prof. Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University Tel: 416/979-5000 x7749
350 Victoria St. Fax: 416/979-5265
Toronto, ON email: [log in to unmask]
M5B 2K3 Canada http://deed.ryerson.ca/~fil/
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