** Low Priority ** ** Reply Requested by 3/2/2012 (Friday) ** usque tandem...... רקשי אל לארשי חצנ palma University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College Campus, philosophy department Durban 4041 South Africa Tel off: [+27] 03 12 60 15 91 Fax [+27] 03 12 60 30 31 (sec: Mrs. Yolanda Hordyk : [+27] 03 12 60 22 92) mobile 07 62 36 23 91 from abroad +[27] 76 23 62 391 EMAIL: palma@xxxxxxxxxx palma's timetable term 1\2012 Sun 11.oo hrs, seminar of the phildept, logic *only when in Europe*: inst. J. Nicod 29 rue d'Ulm f-75005 paris france ________ This e-mail message (and attachments) is confidential, and/or privileged and is intended for the use of the addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail you must not copy, distribute, take any action in reliance on it or disclose it to anyone. Any confidentiality or privilege is not waived or lost by reason of mistaken delivery to you. This entity is not responsible for any information not related to the business of this entity. If you received this e-mail in error please destroy the original and notify the sender. >>> Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx> 3/2/2012 3:48 PM >>> In response to: "There is no music before language." Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology Donal wrote: "The context and meaning of this is not clear, but taken as a bare statement it seems to belong to that category of self-regarding dogmas that may have special appeal to students of language: dogmas that language is 'fundamental', or 'primary' or that language is 'central' or the 'royal road' to understanding ..." Derrida is critical of any attempt to uncover something that is 'fundamental', 'primary' or 'central'. So, for example, he criticizes Heidegger's talk of language as being one more form of onto-theology, that is, the search for something that is central or fundamental for understanding what is. Of course, Derrida was not himself immune from this temptation as can be seen in his use of the term 'differance'. It seems to me that in the above quote, Derrida is not suggesting that everything is language, but rather arguing against the standard understanding of language as the communication of ideas from the mind of one person to another. To this end, Derrida focuses on the iterability of signs, the way in which signifiers like words can maintain meaning while at the same time being used in novel and unexpected ways. To cross threads, we can read Shakespeare today even though we may not be certain who Shakespeare was, and we can appreciate Dante's Inferno even though we are not 14th century Italians, or Christians, for that matter. In short, while intentionality is a necessary part of language use, signification is equally necessary. This, however, would expand our understanding of what constitutes language use, including even music, with its intentionality and repetition of notes. Music is possible only if intentionality and signification are possible. So, yes, we can consider birds as using language when they sing insofar as we can discern intentionality and repetition. This would be in contrast to, for example, the burbling of a brook or the whistling of the wind through the branches of a tree. These sounds may be beautiful, but we would call it music only in a metaphorical sense. Burbling and whistling, Phil Enns ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html Please find our Email Disclaimer here: http://www.ukzn.ac.za/disclaimer/