Coming to Terms

I only know one person, other than myself, who is geeky enough to read the book I just read, and that's Tim LeCroy.  The difference is, HE would understand it!

It has taken me 3-4 months to labor through The Trivium: Understanding the Nature and Function of Language.  Sister Miriam Joseph writes in somewhat technical and sometimes tedious detail, which meant I spent significant time re-reading sentences and paragraphs which I didn't understand the first time through.  At some points I determined to keep going without fully understanding, but other times I was delighted at her ability to make philosophical sense of the everyday science (or should I say miracle?) of language.

When the listener or reader obtains from and through language, the identical proposition intended by the speaker or writer, he understands; they have "come to terms."

Does that seem like a statement of the overly obvious?  Yet how very difficult it is to achieve in reality!  How often do any of us feel that we have sufficiently communicated the full intention of our thoughts...AND...that they have, in turn, been received exactly as we intended?

The process of transferring thought from one being to another is highly complex and involves nearly innumerable variables.  At the most basic level, the two minds must assign the same denotative value to the words being used (that is, the explicit dictionary definition).  If either party holds a broader or more narrow definition to even a single word, some degree of misunderstanding has already begun.  And that's before we even consider the impact of connotative associations which arise from culture, sub-culture, vernacular, and individual experience!  In every written or verbal exchange, then, each word or term provides opportunity for the original intent to be lost or distorted.

Additionally, the interpretation of ideas can vary widely based on personal and corporate context, as well as philosophical, moral or religious presuppositions.  "Morality" and "religion" are themselves prime examples of terms or ideas that are rarely understood primarily in light of their dictionary definitions, but instead are very personally understood based on background, experience, instruction, worldview, and beliefs.

This grid through which we interpret words and ideas also includes emotion, which we tend to overlook in this process we call communication, but should not be underrated!  Not only can terms and ideas convey or arouse emotion, but phrasing, tone, countenance, body language, and personal experience all color the transaction.

In other words, every word, every phrase, every inflection I use to communicate, is chosen through the very personal, very individualized grid of my background, my intention, my understanding, my beliefs and my emotions.  It is then filtered through the very personal, very individualized and likely very different grid of the recipient.

If we consider the layers involved in even the "simplest" transfer of ideas, we will either come away wondering if meaningful communication is even possible, or we will be in awe at how often we achieve a high enough level of understanding to live, work and laugh with one another!

Of course, many of our daily interactions are fundamental enough that we can "come to terms" rather easily.  BUT...as soon as we begin to exchange words and ideas which carry great import or to which we are personally attached, the likelihood of miscommunication skyrockets, if for no other reason than we are most sensitive to being thoroughly understood when the subject at hand matters to us.

This complexity is the reason I place high value on the study of language and logic (formal and material).  The more commonality we can achieve in our understanding of words and the more clarity in our lines of thinking, the more readily we can convey the full intent of our thoughts and ideas to others, thereby achieving real understanding.

Now...Sister Miriam didn't talk about any of THIS in her book.  These are just my derivative thoughts (are there any other kind?) prompted by the quote above.  If the world of language intrigues you, I don't necessarily recommend this book!  Complete some vocab studies and examine Quintillian's approach to expression.   If the world of logic attracts you, I don't necessarily recommend this book!  Complete a high-school logic course instead.  However, if you fall into the rare category of word-language-logic-philosophy-rhetoric geek and enjoy reading paragraphs like this:

The predicate of an affirmative proposition is, however, distributed whenever the proposition is a definition, by virtue of the following reasoning: (1) a definition is always an A proposition (necessary affirmative) and therefore its subject is distributed through the form; (2) the predicate, being the definition of the subject (whether by genus and differentia or by property), has not only the same intension but the same extension as the subject, namely, full extension and is therefore distributed (through the matter, the terms, although not through the forms, the copula).  The very fact that a definition is convertible proves that the predicate has the same extension as the subject, and therefore, since the subject is distributed, so is the predicate.  Conversion is the test of distribution. 

If you like that...then this is the book for YOU!! 

Now you understand why I latched onto the first quote!  I understood it.  Sister Miriam and I "came to terms."