[Xmca-l] Re: Time

Fri Dec 19 03:25:02 PST 2014

This notion of our  being a "verb" or being a "noun" or being a "position"
or possibly being a "pre" - position.
What I am wondering is where we are going??
Are we actually "verbs" and "nouns" and "positions" and "pre"-positions??
Do we "exist" in the grammar [syntax] or do we "exist" in the "semantics"
[meaning] or do we  "exist" in the "Pragmatics" [doing, activity]

I apologize if this question is merely "idio"-syncretic but it is the
imaginal mutually reciprocal "third space" which I am being invited to
occupy in THIS SPECIFIC community as we trans-late the imaginal into
"genres" or "forms". For this reason, I want to hold on to the moral virtue
of "cosmopolitanism" that Kris Gutierrez articulated in her paper. [Yes a
trans-position]  Kris wrote:
"At the CORE of its [the third space] political-philosophical ROOTS, this
program is oriented towards a FORM {LP adds a form as a genre]]  of
"cosmopolitanism" (Appiah, 2006) characterized by the ideals and practices
of a shared humanity, a profound OBLIGATION to others, boundary crossing,
and intercultural exchange in which difference is celebrated without being
romanticized.
To get to this "space" or "place" requires imagination.

If Buckminster Fuller "seems" to be a verb, and others "seem" to be nouns
while others "seem" to be positions [stances] , while others "seem" to be
"pre"-positions, then the imaginal "seems" to be *IN* play. [with the full
awareness of *IN* as David K out-lined or under-scored or high-lighted.]

I  want to ask Francine what she meant by "metaphysical" in her signing off
on her recent examples or cases. Kris "pragmatics" or "performance"  seems
to me "grounded" in the sense of rising [ideal] and returning [to ground]

On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 2:17 AM, larry smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com>
wrote:
>
>
>
> I seem to be a verb
>
> R. Buckminster Fuller 1970
>
> > Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 00:36:03 -0700
> > From: greg.a.thompson@gmail.com
> > To: ablunden@mira.net; xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Time
> >
> > Interesting how you have taken this Andy - to suggest that the Hopi lack
> a
> > founding principle of Natural Science.
> >
> > Whorf actually takes this in generally the opposite direction. In his
> work
> > on the Hopi language, he suggests that one finds a language much better
> > suited to thinking about the theoretical physics of Whorf's day (e.g.,
> > Einstein's theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, etc.). In that sense,
> > Hopi is, in fact, closer to describing the way the world really is. (and
> > I'll quickly rescind those last six words if you have any objections!).
> >
> > As to your assumption that science requires the objectification of the
> > natural world, I'm sure there are others on the list who would agree with
> > me that there is good reason to question the necessity of subject/object
> > dualism for science. (and perhaps you were referring to a particular
> > scientific tradition by calling it "Natural Science" - maybe scary scare
> > quotes are needed?).
> >
> > -greg
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 11:57 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > That is an extremely interesting paragraph or two on the contrast
> between
> > > typical modern expressions of Time and how the Hopi language expresses
> > > corresponding situations. It seems that taking Nature (including Time)
> to
> > > be something which exists independently of us humans and can be known
> as
> > > such, in other words, the founding principle of Natural Science, is
> built
> > > into a premodern language, and is not shared by (at least one)
> indigenous
> > > people.
> > >
> > > Andy
> > >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > *Andy Blunden*
> > > http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> > >
> > >
> > > Greg Thompson wrote:
> > >
> > >> Helena and David,
> > >> I wonder if this quote below from Benjamin Whorf (one of the so-called
> > >> authors of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis - a kindred tradition
> to
> > >> Vygotsky's) might be useful. In it Whorf is comparing the Hopi notion
> of
> > >> "time" to the SAE (Standard Average European - including English)
> notion
> > >> of
> > >> "time" and how each of these languages offers different affordances of
> > >> meaning. Whereas Hopi has a much more processual understanding,
> English
> > >> has
> > >> a much more reified/objectified/entified sense of time. (btw, I think
> the
> > >> first paragraph is easier to follow than the second - and in that
> first
> > >> paragraph you'll find our old friend "imagination").
> > >> David, does this jibe with what you were pointing to?
> > >> -greg
> > >>
> > >> Taken from:
> > >> http://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/extra4/sloan/
> > >> mousesite/Secondary/Whorfframe2.html
> > >>
> > >> " "Such terms as summer, winter, September, morning, noon, sunset" are
> > >> with
> > >> us nouns, and have little formal linguistic difference from other
> nouns.
> > >> They can be subjects or objects, and we say "at sunset" or "in winter"
> > >> just
> > >> as we say "at a corner" or "in an orchard." They are pluralized and
> > >> numerated like nouns of physical objects, as we have seen. Our thought
> > >> about the referents of such words hence becomes objectified. Without
> > >> objectification, it would be a subjective experience of real time,
> i.e. of
> > >> the consciousness of "becoming later and later"--simply a cyclic phase
> > >> similar to an earlier phase in that ever-later-becoming duration.
> Only by
> > >> imagination can such a cyclic phase be set beside another and another
> in
> > >> the manner of a spatial (i.e. visually perceived) configuration. "But
> such
> > >> is the power of linguistic analogy that we do so objectify cyclic
> phasing.
> > >> We do it even by saying "a phase" and "phases" instead of e.g.,
> "phasing."
> > >> And the pattern of individual and mass nouns, with the resulting
> binomial
> > >> formula of formless item plus form, is so general that it is implicit
> for
> > >> all nouns, and hence our very generalized formless items like
> "substance,
> > >> matter," by which we can fill out the binomial for an enormously wide
> > >> range
> > >> of nouns. But even these are not quite generalized enough to take in
> our
> > >> phase nouns. So for the phase nouns we have made a formless item,
> "time."
> > >> We have made it by using "a time," i.e. an occasion or a phase, in the
> > >> pattern of a mass noun, just as from "a summer" we make "summer" in
> the
> > >> pattern of a mass noun. Thus with our binomial formula we can say and
> > >> think
> > >> "a moment of time, a second of time, a year of time." Let me again
> point
> > >> out that the pattern is simply that of "a bottle of milk" or "a piece
> of
> > >> cheese." Thus we are assisted to imagine that "a summer" actually
> contains
> > >> or consists of such-and-such a quantity of "time."
> > >>
> > >> In Hopi however all phase terms, like "summer, morning," etc., are not
> > >> nouns but a kind of adverb, to use the nearest SAE analogy. They are a
> > >> formal part of speech by themselves, distinct from nouns, verbs, and
> even
> > >> other Hopi "adverbs." Such a word is not a case form or a locative
> > >> pattern,
> > >> like "des Abends" or "in the morning." It contains no morpheme like
> one of
> > >> "in the house" or "at the tree." It means "when it is morning" or
> "while
> > >> morning-phase is occurring." These "temporal s" are not used as
> subjects
> > >> or
> > >> objects, or at all like nouns. One does not say "it's a hot summer" or
> > >> "summer is hot"; summer is not hot, summer is only WHEN conditions are
> > >> hot,
> > >> WHEN heat occurs. One does not say "THIS summer," but "summer now" or
> > >> "summer recently." There is no objectification, as a region, an
> extent, a
> > >> quantity, of the subjective duration feeling. Nothing is suggested
> about
> > >> time except the perpetual "getting later" of it. And so there is no
> basis
> > >> here for a formless item answering to our "time." "
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
> > Assistant Professor
> > Department of Anthropology
> > 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
> > Brigham Young University
> > Provo, UT 84602
> > http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
>
>