[Wittrs] Re: The Meaning of Knowing Meanings
- From: "SWM" <SWMirsky@xxxxxxx>
- To: wittrsamr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:27:27 -0000
--- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Gordon Swobe <wittrsamr@...> wrote:
> --- On Tue, 4/13/10, SWM <wittrsamr@...> wrote:
>
> > ...when I read the words on this screen I am not seeing the meaning
> > but the only the symbols -- symbols which have meaning for me
> > BECAUSE I recognize their configurations (shapes).
>
> No, the symbols you see do not have meaning to you by virtue of your
> recognition of their shapes. Rather, they have meanings to you and you
> recognize their shapes.
>
And WHAT do you think counts as the meaning they have to me?
> You could recognize the shapes without knowing the meanings.
>
>
> -gts
>
That just means their shapes could have different meanings as in a square
meaning the sound that our letter "B" makes but also signifying a house, say,
or just a box or some geometrical concept.
Many alphabets actually started out as pictorial meanings before shifting to
sound representations. And there was meaning at every stage, albeit different
meanings.
After all, the two dimensional image of a square has no meaning to a rock but
if you build a machine from the same minerals found in the rock and the machine
is designed so that it can discern shapes and respond in certain ways when
presented with them, then that square does mean something to that machine,
albeit on a very rudimentary level compared to what it might mean to us!
The question then is what happens between that machine and us? Is it just a
matter of quantitative distinction or is it qualitative or does what we see as
qualitative really only arise when we pass a certain quantitative threshold?
Here is the point: What do you think meaning is, Gordon? What happens in us
when we see meaning IN something? What mental event IS the meaning?
Where is this magic you are so convinced understanding finally is? What does it
look like?
Where is the "semantic" in your head?
SWM
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