Words are the web we spin about life.
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We must be careful to use words accurately unless we, at best convey only the illusions we too easily fabricate. We are imaginative people with a tendency to be seduced by our own visions, our own words and our own prejudices. So care in the choice of words reflects our view of reality.
Loaded words allow us to live in their illusion, to think we know facts when we only really know false opinions. A more careful use of language to explain the folly of human character is a necessary step to distinguishing "data smog" from important findings.
Language is the proficient, articulate and appropriate means with which we use words. Speaking, writing and thinking with words may either reveal deeper meanings or cover over ignorance.
It takes practice and patience to learn the difference between phrases used as covert veils and those statements designed to richly inform us in order to nourish the intellect we must have to understand the changing world.
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Continue on and you will enter the labyrinth of language.
Adam and Eve tempted by the serpent to eat of the tree of knowledge.
Language is also a means by which we, at once, convey and reconstruct the natural conditions of physical existence. Our words reveal a maze of meanings that we must master if we are to remain capable of distinguishing facts from fictions.
Facts are those beliefs that no one disputes, based on ample evidence and not just agreement among equally ignorant people. There are--from the perspective of reality--certain conditions that exist without any dependence on observers agreeing that its existence is a fact. Frequently facts alone do not reveal enough information, so they must be edited together and interpreted.
Fictions are a complex set of beliefs that are either totally false, or are deceptions we agree upon in order achieve some important end or outcome. In this sense fictions are agreed upon inventions for the convenience of discussion, or learning something even more important than the facts that are interpreted by our fictions.
Opinions are statements of faith that may or may not rest on facts and fictions but are believed nonetheless, because people need to understand the world and make sense of reality be making up explanations when facts or findings are insufficient to support their contentions.
Because language is a double-edged sword --revealing as much as concealing information-- an honest exchange of ideas is a crucial means to establish the verity of words we use, messages we convey, and the arguments we raise.
see: bias
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Basic terms to understand are:
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The study of an organism or species with respect to its living and nonliving surroundings. An inquiry where life is studied in relation to its environment. Any direct and indirect conditions by which life is sustained and nourished.
The human attempt to remember, order, and find meaning in the past as it relates to origins, functions and people's ancestry, contributions and beliefs. An account and an interpretation of the many sources contributing to the origins of the current era. In Greek tradition an inspired story by the muse of history, Clio. In Chinese tradition an account of the will of heaven as expressed in imperial achievements of each dynasty. Chronological ordering of events.
The human attempt to remember, order, and find meaning in the past as it relates to origins, functions and people's ancestry, contributions and beliefs. An account and an interpretation of the many sources contributing to the origins of the current era.
In Greek tradition an inspired story by the muse of history, Clio. In Chinese tradition an account of the will of heaven as expressed in imperial achievements of each dynasty.
Chronological ordering of events.
From the Greek word "skie" meaning to cut.
The rational knowledge of the natural world derived from theoretical, empirical, and heuristic methods of analysis and synthesis. The Sanskrit word: skie, means to separate, cut, or divide. In this sense science is the means used to separate certainty from uncertainty with respect to what we know about physical or material existence. science index to articles about | recent material on science | science as a story | science criticized fact versus fiction | theme versus thesis | antonyms | dialectic ecology, history, science, technology, policy, landscape, labyrinth, metaphor Return to start
The rational knowledge of the natural world derived from theoretical, empirical, and heuristic methods of analysis and synthesis. The Sanskrit word: skie, means to separate, cut, or divide. In this sense science is the means used to separate certainty from uncertainty with respect to what we know about physical or material existence.
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Also from the Greek, the word "tekth" or "techne" meaning to join.
Literally to put together, weave or connect: particularly with respect to carpentry (joinery) it means to bring together, tie or dovetail two pieces of wood into one combined structure. By extension technology is the systematic understanding of how materials and products are combined to achieve a desired end or advantage. fact versus fiction | theme versus thesis | antonyms | dialectic ecology, history, science, technology, policy, landscape, labyrinth, metaphor
Literally to put together, weave or connect: particularly with respect to carpentry (joinery) it means to bring together, tie or dovetail two pieces of wood into one combined structure. By extension technology is the systematic understanding of how materials and products are combined to achieve a desired end or advantage.
Also from the Greek, the word "polis," police.
This term referred to the geographical place and its free inhabitants who formed the civic life of the ancient world. The word derives from the Indo-European root, "pel" meaning fortress; that is derived from the Sanskrit root, "pur" for town, a settled area. As in the city of Jaipur. The photo above is of a Medieval "bastide," in Southern France, called Carcassone. Such free towns were established on the European frontier to secure the boundaries of a province. The walled city was restored in the 1800s. Policy refers to the products, or a body of regulations enforced by customs and law in villages, towns, cities and nations. The formulation of rules for the proper governing of local, state, national or international relations among people. Policy is, in some sense the opposite from custom. Policy tends to be a formal expression of expected behavior and anticipated outcomes of a decision making process. Politics links. fact versus fiction | theme versus thesis | antonyms | dialectic ecology, history, science, technology, policy, landscape, labyrinth, metaphor Return to start
This term referred to the geographical place and its free inhabitants who formed the civic life of the ancient world. The word derives from the Indo-European root, "pel" meaning fortress; that is derived from the Sanskrit root, "pur" for town, a settled area. As in the city of Jaipur. The photo above is of a Medieval "bastide," in Southern France, called Carcassone. Such free towns were established on the European frontier to secure the boundaries of a province. The walled city was restored in the 1800s.
Policy refers to the products, or a body of regulations enforced by customs and law in villages, towns, cities and nations. The formulation of rules for the proper governing of local, state, national or international relations among people. Policy is, in some sense the opposite from custom. Policy tends to be a formal expression of expected behavior and anticipated outcomes of a decision making process.
Politics links.
From the Greek words "labi" meaning, to slip or totter, from which the word labor is derived + "ryn" meaning, "into or entry".
A place of multiple passages, such as a cave, or a constructed maze. Any place where, even the observant and careful wanderer may become lost. In European and Latin American literature the term takes on a deeper significance as an elaborately confusing structure that at once confounds people but may also present a set of tests for skillful persons either to overcome or be forever lost.
see complexity
More on mazes and mythology.
Any terrain possesses topography and features comprising a landscape.
The technical reconstruction of nature along some economically beneficial or aesthetically pleasing plan that carries out in material form the underlying social relations among people.
Metaphor
From the Greek words "meta" meaning: "over, or beside" + "pherein" meaning: to bear, or carry.
Metaphors are an implied comparison, usually made between two very different things to convey in a complex image an altogether distinct meaning. A figure of speech, comparing two unlike things without using the words, "like" or "as." Frequently a metaphor conveys a paradox that reveals significant truths about experience that simpler, straightforward images do not.
for example: "virgin birth," "jumbo shrimp," "forbidden fruit," "lathe of heaven," "horsepower," "seat of knowledge," "slough of despond," "music of the spheres," "ring of truth," "game of life," "naked truth," "an imprisoned mind," "the cake of custom," "social fabric," "light of reason," "a fool's paradise," "a blind visionary," "honor among thieves," "a font of wisdom," "an engine of change," "the arsenal of democracy," "day of imfamy," "jaundiced wisdom." Words used here | Basic concept | Terms | Other words used | Basic Dictionary | Etymology fact versus fiction | theme versus thesis | antonyms | dialectic | global warming | Loaded words ecology, history, science, technology, policy, landscape, labyrinth, metaphor
for example: "virgin birth," "jumbo shrimp," "forbidden fruit," "lathe of heaven," "horsepower," "seat of knowledge," "slough of despond," "music of the spheres," "ring of truth," "game of life," "naked truth," "an imprisoned mind," "the cake of custom," "social fabric," "light of reason," "a fool's paradise," "a blind visionary," "honor among thieves," "a font of wisdom," "an engine of change," "the arsenal of democracy," "day of imfamy," "jaundiced wisdom."
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