![]() Surface simplicity covers swirling depths of complex meaning, but at least we know that it is not the signposts that mislead us. In China this use of concrete metaphor reached a high art in ![]() Such defences reach great heights of intricacy in both Romantic European writing and dense Indian philosophy, but further east the response has sometimes been to remove the signpost altogether, the removal of signs and symbols means they cannot be blamed for misleading, however, the substitution of concrete descriptions, which rely almost entirely on the power of metaphor, enhances ambiguity greatly. The western reaction to disruption is often to build stronger defences as when we cite a dictionary in support of our points. In this middle ground we need signposts that we can trust and there is nothing wrong with this desire, although it must be balanced against the right adolescents have to disrupt. It is not like a machine with the specific jobs of signing, or meaning, or referring, but more like a living entity itself evolving and adapting to our needs. Since then we have remembered, not least with the help of Wittgenstein's 'Investigations' 2 that language is a rich and complex system. The Positivists' reaction, even in the light of some rather undisciplined writings in the nineteenth century, was extreme. The Positivists condemned much abstract writing including theology, metaphysics and fiction alike to silence, or at best entertainment. This is the kind of objection to words that the Logical Positivists felt early last century, their discontent cast its net more widely as they hankered for a language in which words would behave not just as reliable signposts, but more like the terms of mathematical expressions, so that statements became like these expressions. It is sad if the annoyance (understandably) prevents you reading the book. This book is an uneasy mixture of, on the one hand, deep and valuable insights into important aspects of our lives, and on the other, annoyingly meaningless claims that often rest on allowing words to point first one way and then another. Again if we know that the writer is adapting words to particular needs, then we may be able to avoid misunderstandings, but if we do not know, and fail to suspect that the words are being used in novel ways, then we do have problems.Ī recent example which illustrates the way we may end up with a rich stew of words is If we make it obvious that we are using words in special ways, such as using a technical vocabulary, as with the fractions on the signpost above, then no harm is done to those who cannot follow the directions. ![]() If we manage to use words in a way which serves our desired communication, they are useful, like any signpost. However, supposing we suspect that the high spirits of some young people have resulted in the arms of the sign being reversed? If we know that the sign has been tampered with, we would be forewarned, and could ignore the signpost completely, but what if there was no such suspicion in our minds, and it did not even occur to us that the direction was false, and we headed off to Lawrenceton when we wanted Rafford? Now the problem is rather different, it is that we do not know we have a problem.Īll writers assaying abstractions become enmeshed with the verbal counterpart to this metaphor. Reading passages about philosophical or psychological problems written for academics might leave us cold, but we would know that we did not know, and probably be able to specifically identify phrases that baffled us, just as the five eights might baffle us, but not the village name. If we know that we do not understand these fractions, they will not mislead us. However, if the fractions are a mystery, they are a mystery of which we are aware, even if it is only as an irritation. For the older generation it offers added information, although for younger people it may be cryptic. As signposts and metaphors go this is a good one. Signposts guide us along our way, oiling our travels they also act as useful metaphors.
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