On Sep 23, 2009, at 10:13 PM, Klaus Krippendorff wrote:
> reating language as a tool renders language subordinate to purpose.
> yet,
> purposes surface primarily when others hold you accountable for what
> you are
> doing or proposing. without accounatbility, you can just do without
> justification. moreover, suggesting language to be secondary to
> conceptualization is a rugged individualist view of the world. to me,
> language is a cultural artifact that has evolved in people talking
> to each
> other.
Klaus: I would like to throw a different light on the primacy of
language and social accountability that you argue for. There is no
question that purposeful thought relies on accumulated understandings
very often encoded and ratified in language. However, in my view,
every moment of phenomenal awareness is automatically interpreted by
the knowledge and recall of the individual based on their cumulative
experience - both as part of a culture and as individual beings. This
"remembered present" may be in many forms, some of which are
immediately understandable and practically useful (in language,
emotion, imagery, sensation etc.). If the understanding in any form is
problematic, an "intention" to achieve understanding is motivated and
the problematic situation is addressed or dismissed. This usually
occurs over a longer time span than the automatic attempt at
reflective interpretation. ( A design project, or a conversation such
as this for example.) Anomalies within the focal situation are not
necessarily linguistic. I suspect that the mind immediately attempts
to find matching or similar neural patterns (including those for
habits of mind, language, imagery,etc) through which to resolve an
understanding. Similarly, I believe that every purposeful thought
carries its own agent of accountability. Whatever the goal, it will
have criteria that allow assessment of success or lack thereof. This
situated evaluation is sometimes based on individual references and
sometimes on social ones. It can be either qualitative or quantitative
and use language or other "tools" (sensation of weight, force;
aesthetic judgment; taste, etc.) One can appreciate the power of
language and community without penalizing the individual or
restricting the tools he or she has as a human being with a history.
In this I agree with Terry and Susan.
Best regards from across town,
Chuck
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