Dear All,
I am reminded in this discussion of the origins of the word "normal"
and the process "to normalize". I have provided an etymological snippet
below to account for some of my interpretations.
The Greek word involved here, "gnomon" refers to knowledge and to a
carpenter's rule and to the stylus on a sundial. My point is that
knowledge can be seen to be provided, by the stylus and the carpenter's
rule in an objective way. That is, knowledge can be read off the
objective relationships between a thing (the stylus) and another thing
(the sun) and another produced thing (the shadow). We interpret these
relationships to be some kind of knowledge of time and time passing.
When we construct the in-strument called the carpenter's rule we are
structuring into the object a set of relationships that means the object
embodies the knowledge for anyone who knows how to read the object
relations structured into the tool. These relationships between things
are in the world of things and they are relationships that objects can
have as things in the world of things.
This kind of knowledge would seem to be a radical breakthrough in as
much as the knowledge can be replicated (read off and used) by anyone in
the world of things who has the knowledge of how to read knowledge off
knowledge things. Whatever is going on is certainly a transcendence of
subjectivity.
I think both Ken and Terry are pointing to knowledge things (systems of
understanding). I think we can all learn to read off the knowledge that
is structured in such knowledge systems.
cheers from my sundial face
keith
<http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Norma.htm>
The word Norma comes from Latin norma, with the meaning 'carpenter's
square, rule, pattern, precept', from the Indo-European root *gno- 'To
know'. Derivatives: know, knowledge, acknowledge, (from Old English
cnawan), can*, con*, cunning, (from Old English cunnan),ken, kenning,
(from Old English cennan, to declare, to make known),couth, uncouth,
(from Old English cuth), kith and kin, (from Old English cyth(the),
cyththu), notice, notify,notion, notorious, acquaint, cognition,
cognizance, connoisseur, incognito, quaint, recognize,reconnaissance,
reconnoiter, (from Latin (g)noscere, cognoscere), ignorant, ignore (from
Latin ignorare, not to know, to disregard), noble (from Latin nobilis),
noble (the noble gases are inert gases, including gold, that resist
oxidation in air at high temperatures), nobility, ignoble, gnome* ( an
aphorism, a maxim),gnomon (the style of a sundial, that projects a
shadow used as an indicator), gnosis (gnosis is an intuitive
apprehension of spiritual truths, an esoteric form of knowledge sought
by the Gnostics 1), Gnostic, agnosia(loss of the ability to interpret
sensory stimuli), agnostic, diagnosis, prognosis, (from Greek
gignoskein, to know), narrate (from Latin narrare < *gnararre),
Zend-Avesta (the body of writings of the Zoroastrian religion), note,
annotate, connote, (from Latin nota, a mark, note, sign, cipher,
shorthand character), notion,norm, Norma, normal, abnormal, enormous
(out of all just rule and proportion), enormity, (from Latinnorma,
carpenter's square, rule, pattern, precept, possibly from an Etruscan
borrowing of Greek gnomon, carpenter's square, rule). [Pokorny 2. gen-
376. Watkins] The word snob is sometimes supposed to stand for
abbreviated 'sine nobilitate' or 'sans noblesse', 'without nobility'.
[2] The words Norma and gnomon are from the same root *gno- 'To know'.
The Greek word gnomon refers to two different objects; the pointer on a
sundial, and also a carpenter's square or L-shaped bar. The stylus or
gnomon of a sundial casts a shadow by which the time is indicated on the
dial. The shape of an upright pointer and shadow together have a 90
degree-angle; as has carpenter's square. Pillars, columns, standing
stones, or a stick stuck upright in the ground, serve the same
shadow-making purpose as the gnomon or stylus.
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