For some purposes, it could be necessary to differentiate among social institutions, legal institutions, cultural institutions, etc. But I am completely comfortable recognizing all of theose as institutions.
And, at more local levels: I would see the "C,F,&J thing" in Wenger's book (it's a form, and the practices of filling out and using the form in an insurance company) as an institution.
These all function as signs, which is not to say that their existence is exhausted in their being as signs.
Are they all also tools, or artefacts? I expect that the C,F,&J form, at least, would be regarded as a tool and artefact.
I don't think I understand yet the issue about tools/artefacts, or the discussion of words as tools. I can see how some time a word could be used to perform the function as a tool (there are ways I could use a word to effect what might otherwise be effected with a shovel, without regard for what else the word might do, _qua_ word -- and to do it with a shovel might result in greater physical injury.)
It has seemed to me sometimes that a preoccupation with "tools" reflects an anxiety in the marxian tradiion about bridging the gap between mental and material realms of being. Since I've never seen Being as bifurcated in that way, I have not felt that anxiety.
On Fri, 17 Jun 2011, Martin Packer wrote:
Agreed, Tony. Are you comfortable calling a language an institution, or is there a better way to put it? On Jun 17, 2011, at 1:28 PM, Tony Whitson wrote:I wonder how much we would agree or disagree on a position that I stated bluntly in an earlier post: that Words _ARE_ words only within languages. A great deal follows from this idea, if it's accepted. If it's not accepted, I sincerely don't have any idea what people mean by "words." On Fri, 17 Jun 2011, Martin Packer wrote:Mike, I wasn't attributing the "it's just sound" view to you. Rather, this seems to be Andy's view: that meaning is all in the listener; what is in the world is just material sound. I think you and I agree that speech is both material *and* ideal. The ideal has objective existence. Meaning is in the world. This is the difficulty of three people talking at once! Martin__________________________________________ _____ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca__________________________________________ _____ xmca mailing list xmca@weber.ucsd.edu http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
Tony Whitson
UD School of Education
NEWARK DE 19716
twhitson@udel.edu
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"those who fail to reread
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-- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)
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