Please note: because you're not logged in, you may be viewing older cached versions of pages which are served up to reduce server load.
Synaesthesia: Material and Conceptual
PrintPage: 1 2
 Synaesthesia: Material and Conceptual | |
|
CypressMoon
banned  Usergroup: Members Joined: May 16, 2007 Location: in between you and me Total Topics: 93 Total Posts: 1427 |
 #1
Subject: Synaesthesia: Material and Conceptual Material Synaesthesia: Language is a synaesthetic metaphorical material behavior (i.e. written symbolic metaphors, acoustic symbolic metaphors) of humans in a dialectical relationship with the actual material landscape. It is a culturally emergent, evaluative process that evolves along with the actual landscape - a "thing-for-us". This landscape (a "thing-for-us") is "under" the entropy of our evaluative, culturally emergent physical laws (like thermodynamics). It is an irreversable entropic eternity. In other words, this process never ends. An example: I think it is the synaesthetic transformations from one sense to another that is what, sensationally, distinguishes us from other creatures - the degree of detail to which we are able to transform one sense into another. This, I think, is really what metaphor is - synaesthesia manifested. The convergence of the patterned frequencies heard by the ear, and the (different in type) patterned frequencies recieved by the eye occurs in the imagination. Even the first representative sound uttered by a human being was a metaphor for, say a rock. It was a synaesthetic translation from the range of some sense(s) into sound. The metaphor was waving in the air. The rock, from then on had been essentialized, and reduced into an acoustic metaphor wobbling in the ether and resonating in the bodies of the community. The rock could be synaesthetically moved around away from the rock to the campfire, or on the hunt. The rock was now mobile, as a reductive metaphor. Concealed conceptual synaesthetic abstractions within a literal context (metaphor): Even a literal statement can conceal a metaphor. This is a type of syneshesia, where the seemingly literal "surface" is only literal because it has within it abstractions. These abstractions are only rendered with power in a context of varying disparieties. As contextual relations are established, the the degrees of abstract oppositions emerge. They emerge as synaesthetic conceptual metaphors, where a word in a context that is a seemingly topographical literal statement conceals an image, taste, and even sound. Location turns into, through conceptual synaesthesia, an imaginative experience. An example: The context in which the word "potato" is placed determines its power and meaning. Concealed within words in a context are abstractions, like color, taste, sound, line etc., that enlivens the imagination. However, it is only through the concealed abstract oppositions in a sentence, pragraph etc., that make a potato what it is. It is made what it is by the contextual degrees of oppositions. For instance: "The potato is in a ceramic bowl next to an apple on a wood table." In this case, the red of the apple might bring to mind the flesh color of the potato... taste, texture soforth with degrees of abstract opposition. "The potato is in a quantum pool of particles going through entropy." In this context, potato may no longer have a taste, or a (relatively) specific color, but an animated abstraction. The actual potato - the landscape - is in a dialectical relationship with the maps of the potato. The actual potato is inseperable from the social, political, and natural activities of culture. It is intertwined in a dialectical relationship. The evaluative interpretations (maps) of the actual potato change along with the actual potato "underneath" the culturally emergent physical laws. "IN THE spring, Tipasa is inhabited by gods and the gods speak in the sun and the scent of absinthe leaves, in the silver armor of the sea, in the raw blue sky, the flowercovered ruins, and the great bubbles of light among the heaps of stone." - Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays A good determinant of success is when people start buying your shit. |
|
Yahadreas
YHDRS  Usergroup: Sponsors Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Location: Awesometown Total Topics: 16 Total Posts: 2630 |
#2
CypressMoon wrote: The rock, from then on had been essentialized, and reduced into an acoustic metaphor wobbling in the ether and resonating in the bodies of the community. Are you saying that the sound of the word 'rock' (or its visual representation as a written word) brings to mind a specific category of sensory qualities of (near) equal comparison to that which we (now) call a rock? And that this is how words acquire meaning? If so, I agree with you. The rock could be synaesthetically moved around away from the rock to the campfire, or on the hunt. Bringing about the case that our understanding/experience of the world is not as a series of individual entities but as varying degrees of collected 'excited' qualitative characteristics (which have varying degrees of connectedness)? Meanings are always with reference to other (different (in varying degree of separateness)) meanings? "The potato is in a ceramic bowl next to an apple on a wood table." In this case, the red of the apple might bring to mind the flesh color of the potato... taste, texture soforth with degrees of abstract opposition. "The potato is in a quantum pool of particles going through entropy." In this context, potato may no longer have a taste, or a (relatively) specific color, but an animated abstraction. Wow. I like that. Note: Apologies for if I appear stupid in this post. I've been drinking. Edited by Yahadreas on Feb 4, 2009 - 2:20 AM Squiloople - Just have fun! |
|
CypressMoon
banned Usergroup: Members Joined: May 16, 2007 Location: in between you and me Total Topics: 93 Total Posts: 1427 |
#3
Yahadras wrote: Are you saying that the sound of the word 'rock' (or its visual representation as a written word) brings to mind a specific category of sensory qualities of (near) equal comparison to that which we (now) call a rock? And that this is how words acquire meaning? More or less, yes. But I'm not sure what you mean when you say, "a specific category of sensory qualities." I think that the conceptual metaphors (acoustic or written) in a literal statement (e.g. "the potato is next to the apple") are completely contextually contingent. The meaning (to reference your avatar) comens from the degrees of opposition "in" the yin and yang. Smithson would say, the meaning is found "between literal and metaphorical signification". Yahadras wrote: Bringing about the case that our understanding/experience of the world is not as a series of individual entities but as varying degrees of collected 'excited' qualitative characteristics (which have varying degrees of connectedness)? Meanings are always with reference to other (different (in varying degree of separateness)) meanings? Yes. I think so. It is degrees of yin and yang. The oppositions, or partial oppositions pentrate the body, either through the ears as sound, or through the eyes as light. The material variation of oppositions (e.g. perpendicular lines) is felt by the body. Only through these material oppositions can a material word in a context have any phoenetic (or visual) power. Through the body of dissonant echoes, either visually or acoustically, is where the conceptual meaning comes from. The concept is another synaesthetic translation of material oppositions. Yahadras wrote: I've been drinking. I hope it still makes sense to you when you sober up. I like your avatar. "IN THE spring, Tipasa is inhabited by gods and the gods speak in the sun and the scent of absinthe leaves, in the silver armor of the sea, in the raw blue sky, the flowercovered ruins, and the great bubbles of light among the heaps of stone." - Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays A good determinant of success is when people start buying your shit. |
|
180 Proof
kynic  Usergroup: Sponsors Joined: Apr 27, 2003 Location: reason's raggedy edge ... Total Topics: 108 Total Posts: 5931 |
#4
Do the atoms making up a strawberry taste like strawberry? Or the neurons that make up a (semantic) memory of strawberries smell like strawberry? Edited by 180 Proof on Feb 11, 2009 - 9:39 PM. Reason: spelling ... the where of space? the when of time? the edge of an unbounded surface? the cause of causality? willing separate from acting? disembodied personality? symphony without orchestra? ideal reality? real concepts? 'higher truth' via contradiction? non-propositional truths? context-free questions? unconditional objects? maps which transcend their terrain? the truth of logic? facts indistinguishable from fictions? answering questions with mysteries? anthropomorphic unknowns? ... o_O only placebos require 'faith'. THINKING won't kill you, but it might make you stronger! |
|
CypressMoon
banned Usergroup: Members Joined: May 16, 2007 Location: in between you and me Total Topics: 93 Total Posts: 1427 |
#5
180 Proof wrote: Do the atoms making up a strawberry taste like strawberry? Or the neurons that make up a (semantic) memory of strawberrys smell like strawberry? I don't think so. The strawberry will taste like a strawberry when you eat one though. They probably smell like neurons. But, when you juxtapose "neurons" and "strawberry" in the context of a sentence with "smell" the concealed metaphor of the biologically decaying matter of a neuron brings to mind a smell that is rancid in relation to the sweet-earth smell of a plump red strawberry. The thing is, it brings to mind a smell - not an actual smell. Just as I make pictures with my mind - I can smell, feel, taste, and hear from language. The "voice inside your head" is similar to the "olfactory senses inside your head", or the "film-strip inside your head." If not a type of translation of material into sounds, sounds to material (pictures, language), and back to sounds again ("reading aloud"), how would you explain the evolution of language? "IN THE spring, Tipasa is inhabited by gods and the gods speak in the sun and the scent of absinthe leaves, in the silver armor of the sea, in the raw blue sky, the flowercovered ruins, and the great bubbles of light among the heaps of stone." - Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays A good determinant of success is when people start buying your shit. |
|
180 Proof
kynic Usergroup: Sponsors Joined: Apr 27, 2003 Location: reason's raggedy edge ... Total Topics: 108 Total Posts: 5931 |
#6
CypressMoon wrote: ... The thing is, it brings to mind a smell - not an actual smell. With proper electrostimulation of the relevant area(s) of your brain, you will "smell" strawberry with such acuity that you will not be able to tell whether you are remembering the strawberry's aroma or actually smelling an "actual" strawberry. "Experience" happens in the brain as an interactive relationship between memory & perception which over time grows denser & more stable (i.e. semantically structured). Nonsensory words, of course, are purely mnemonic which implies that "sensory perception" plays a subordinate role in the development of what we call "language". The word "strawberry", of course, has non-verbal associations but those are culture & (surface) grammar-specific cues; if this were not the case, then translation would be precise & unambiguous. Also, the meaning of words does not correspond to what they refer to but how they are used in sentences constrained by discursive contexts; if this were not the case, then metaphors would not be possible. If not a type of translation of material into sounds, sounds to material (pictures, language), and back to sounds again ("reading aloud"), how would you explain the evolution of language? The development of a large frontal cortex allowed for semantically durable & complex signalling (i.e. communication) between primates that became "human". All organisms down to simple cells exist in communicative relation with their environments at minimum (and to some degree with their own kind), and that the more processing power (i.e. greater bandwidth) the organism possesses (via CNS-brain system) the greater the possible information density of each basic unit of communication that can be exchanged between -- and sustained by -- the communicants. Semantics (i.e. language) is not basic, but an emergent function of syntax (i.e. communication), and syntax is simply (a) signalling aspect of metabolism & other forms of organic feedback. Your 'synaesthetic conjecture', CM, might describe (some) observable correlations between various semantic elements but it doesn't begin to explain how language works (e.g. what about nonsensory words like "plus" or "metaphor"?) or even answer your own question. the where of space? the when of time? the edge of an unbounded surface? the cause of causality? willing separate from acting? disembodied personality? symphony without orchestra? ideal reality? real concepts? 'higher truth' via contradiction? non-propositional truths? context-free questions? unconditional objects? maps which transcend their terrain? the truth of logic? facts indistinguishable from fictions? answering questions with mysteries? anthropomorphic unknowns? ... o_O only placebos require 'faith'. THINKING won't kill you, but it might make you stronger! |
|
CypressMoon
banned Usergroup: Members Joined: May 16, 2007 Location: in between you and me Total Topics: 93 Total Posts: 1427 |
#7
180 Proof wrote: With proper electrostimulation of the relevant area(s) of your brain, you will "smell" strawberry with such acuity that you will not be able to tell whether you are remembering the strawberry's aroma or actually smelling an "actual" strawberry. Sure. "Experience" happens in the brain as an interactive relationship between memory & perception which over time grows denser & more stable (i.e. semantically structured). Nonsensory words, of course, are purely mnemonic which implies that "sensory perception" plays a subordinate role in the development of what we call "language". "Nonsensory words", if you mean by that, blatant abstractions with no sensory correlate like "plus" or "metaphor", I find mnemonic as well. Mnemonic is interesting to me here because it is a patterned corrolary device. The mnemonic is a sequence of symbols (a recognizable pattern) that correlates with something. These nonsensory words are never without context. "Heiddeger's bridge connecing the fourfold was a great metaphor." The way metaphor is used here, immediately implies literalness. The word "metaphor" cannot be understood - it has no meaning - without understanding its opposite, "literal". This is how concepts are imbued with power, and meaning. The mnemonic here functions as a corrolary. "metaphor" correlates to "literal". So, yes. They are purely mnemonic. They are perpendicular lines, or positive and negative. However, I don't understand how you arrive at the conclusion that sensory perception plays a subordinate role in the development of language. The mnemonic words are connectors ("of" "in" "upon" "below" "underneath" "plus" "minus" "between" "beyond" metaphor" "literal" "Straight" "curved"). These mnemonic connectors, as far as I understand, were a development of relations between sensorily percieved things. A mnemonic, then, is a translation from one "state" to another. For example, an actual rock, might be translated into the sound "Ubacrag". This is a mnemonic for the actual rock - a way to remember and communicate the sensory perception of the rock. As soon as the first metaphor was uttered, the mnemonic was already at play. It merely became a matter of elaborating upon the mnemonic translations, and developing them into explicit concepts like "plus" or "minus". The mnemonic was always there, concealed within the pigment representing the landscape on cave walls. It became explicit as the mind became stronger through the power of conceptual mobility (i.e. moving a rock with the mnemonic "Ubacrag"). ... the meaning of words does not correspond to what they refer to but how they are used in sentences constrained by discursive contexts; if this were not the case, then metaphors would not be possible. Did I say anything contrary to this? The word is not the thing. The thing is not the word. The word is meaningful only in relation to the context in which it is placed. The power of a word is completely contingent on context. The development of a large frontal cortex allowed for semantically durable & complex signalling (i.e. communication) between primates that became "human". All organisms down to simple cells exist in communicative relation with their environments at minimum (and to some degree with their own kind), and that the more processing power (i.e. greater bandwidth) the organism possesses (via CNS-brain system) the greater the possible information density of each basic unit of communication that can be exchanged between -- and sustained by -- the communicants. Semantics (i.e. language) is not basic, but an emergent function of syntax (i.e. communication), and syntax is simply (a) signalling aspect of metabolism & other forms of organic feedback. Your 'synaesthetic conjecture', CM, might describe (some) observable correlations between various semantic elements but it doesn't begin to explain how language works (e.g. what about nonsensory words like "plus" or "metaphor"?) or even answer your own question. I might agree with the brain description. But the mnemonic is emergent from the synaesthetic. Actual rock ---> Synaesthetic response ---> Mnemonic implication ---> Mnemonic explication That's how I see it anyway. Refer to that first paragraph for a more detailed account. Thanks for your response. Even if you think I'm off, you're making my limbs weaker, by making my ideas stronger. "IN THE spring, Tipasa is inhabited by gods and the gods speak in the sun and the scent of absinthe leaves, in the silver armor of the sea, in the raw blue sky, the flowercovered ruins, and the great bubbles of light among the heaps of stone." - Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays A good determinant of success is when people start buying your shit. |
|
Cuthbert
Tenured Poster Usergroup: Members Joined: Mar 18, 2005 Total Topics: 26 Total Posts: 2331 |
#8
OK, but I would add - kinaesthesia. We don't just observe the world but also interact with it. Rocks can be lifted or not, things can be hidden behind other things and made to re-appear. Our physical abilities and vulnerability inform our understanding of the world. Gesture, dance and action are also factors in making things things-for-us, nu? |
|
CypressMoon
banned Usergroup: Members Joined: May 16, 2007 Location: in between you and me Total Topics: 93 Total Posts: 1427 |
#9
Cuthbert wrote: OK, but I would add - kinaesthesia. We don't just observe the world but also interact with it. Rocks can be lifted or not, things can be hidden behind other things and made to re-appear. Our physical abilities and vulnerability inform our understanding of the world. Gesture, dance and action are also factors in making things things-for-us, nu? Thanks, Cuthbert. I think synaesthesia implies kinaesthesia, right? The utterance of a word - this act - is kinaesthetic, I think. The kinaesthetic is a manifestation of the synaesthetic, I would say. "Ubacrag!" is a kinaesthetic expressive act of an actual rock. Maybe I'm missing your thrust though. "IN THE spring, Tipasa is inhabited by gods and the gods speak in the sun and the scent of absinthe leaves, in the silver armor of the sea, in the raw blue sky, the flowercovered ruins, and the great bubbles of light among the heaps of stone." - Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays A good determinant of success is when people start buying your shit. |
|
Cuthbert
Tenured Poster Usergroup: Members Joined: Mar 18, 2005 Total Topics: 26 Total Posts: 2331 |
#10
That's it, I was just clarifying. I understand 'synaesthesia' as being typically, e.g., the colour of numbers and letters or the sound of sculpture - 'architecture is frozen music' - one sense standing in place of another or the senses working together to produce a unified impression. I understand 'kinaesthesia' to be our sense of movement and placing of our bodies - as we know with our eyes shut whether our arms are bent or straight. |
Page: 1 2
Sorry, you don't have permission to post. Log in, or register if you haven't yet.