Understanding, meaning, and things
Mar. 5th, 2022 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marginnotesIf to understand is to grasp the meaning of, then that definition is metaphorical. Grasping a meaning illustrates taking conceptual hold of a mental model, probably with the intent of using it in some way, even if only to bring it into a convenient position for examination.
Meaning says something about the relationship between the observer and the model. So does understanding. Neither necessarily elucidate the thing that the observer hopes the model represents.
I understand, know, and create the model, not the thing.
Words have meaning insofar as they help to act on and improve the model. Other beings, such as the Creator God, might work with tools infinitely more effective than words. But as a human, language is one of the tools I have.
Language is not the only tool. Visualization is another. Language feels easier to use when working with models, however. Noam Chomsky said it only recently dawned on linguists that the most common use of language is to talk to ourselves, in other words to communicate our thoughts with ourselves, like this blog.
That seems to be as far as it goes for now. I guess I still expected meaning and so understanding to relate to something outside my models, but that's a basic mistake Isaac Newton apparently corrected centuries ago.
Meaning says something about the relationship between the observer and the model. So does understanding. Neither necessarily elucidate the thing that the observer hopes the model represents.
I understand, know, and create the model, not the thing.
Words have meaning insofar as they help to act on and improve the model. Other beings, such as the Creator God, might work with tools infinitely more effective than words. But as a human, language is one of the tools I have.
Language is not the only tool. Visualization is another. Language feels easier to use when working with models, however. Noam Chomsky said it only recently dawned on linguists that the most common use of language is to talk to ourselves, in other words to communicate our thoughts with ourselves, like this blog.
That seems to be as far as it goes for now. I guess I still expected meaning and so understanding to relate to something outside my models, but that's a basic mistake Isaac Newton apparently corrected centuries ago.
