From: Erin Noonan (enoonan@kent.edu)
Date: Fri Oct 04 2002 - 18:56:32 BST
>===== Original Message From moq_discuss@moq.org =====
>In a message dated 10/3/02 4:36:37 PM GMT Daylight Time, pholden@sc.rr.com
>writes:
>
>
>> Finally, Rorty's "contingent vocabulary" reminds me of that great sage,
>> Humpty Dumpty who, in "Through the Looking Glass," has the following
>> exchange with Alice:
>>
>> When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it
>> means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
>> "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so
>> many different things."
>> "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's
>> all."
>>
>> And that's what's frightening. If the criteria for and meaning of truth is
>> what groups develop "contingently" over time, then truth is determined
>> by the group that has the most power, or "mastery" over other groups.
>> We've seen this occur in the pragmatism of the Nazis (Chap. 29), and
>> we see it today in the pervasiveness of scientism.
>>
>> But, I could be wrong.
>>
>> Platt
>>
>
>Hello Platt,
>I like this.
>
>There is far more to experience than linguistic expressions of it?
>
>All the best,
>Squonk.
Squonk and my favorite hippie
yes experience is a factor....that's why my concepts are not 100% exactly like
your concepts....if they were we probably wouldn't have so much disagreement.
Imagine the concept of a supposedly simple word 'woman' with a
femnazi, Muslim fundamentalist, etc
or a doctor vs my concept of cancer
i know how you hippies love to quote Alice in Wonderland (kidding) but
i think that quote is missing the mark. It's not arbitrarily choosing
the meaning of the word. Of course there is a large overlap of course but
just because we are using the same word and nodding our heads in agreement we
can be saying something quite different in our heads
P.S. i just heard this claim that a duck's quack doesn't echo (a lot of people
disagreeing with this claim so not sure if its true) but it is now making me
ask something i have wondered about for a year...why did you choose the name
squonkstail? Also related news in the article about the world's funniest joke
"duck" was considered a very funny word.
erin
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