Djordje Vidanovic wrote:
>
> Second, I wanted to introduce myself, as I believe that this little
> cybercommunity should know at least something about other people in it and
> also because I've felt a bit uneasy about cybervoyeurism.
> My name is Djordje Vidanovic. I am a Professor of Linguistics at the
> Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Nis, Serbia. My interests are
> manifold, but they seem to have one thing in common - language. I've been
> trying to find out what it actually is. My 1983 dissertation dealt with
> the performative hypothesis and its aphasic language counterpart. I've
> written papers on Chomsky and Kant, on Strawson and the social function of
> language, on rules and strategies in language, on the possibility of
> setting up a kind of experimentum crucis in linguistics. I've also been
> interested in the mind-body issue and in computer chess programming. I am
> 45 and I graduated from high school in North Manchester, Indiana. I played
> football and did a bit of wrestling for my high school. I also took part
> in some chess tournaments. Can read and communicate in English, Spanish,
> German, French and Italian, and, I guess, in Serbian.
> Take care all of you lurkers.
Dear Djordje,
You might also enjoy looking at this site and examining their list,
http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit/
where there is interesting traffic in memetic theory, etc., as it might
interest you in your speciality.
I have recently had a bout involving mind/body references on another
list involving medicine where I suggested that we quit using the
terminology of psychosomatic, psychogenic, etc. (or at least mentally or
subconsciously annotate our thoughts) and always use "organic" because
it was the connotation that was causing the troubles in the
communication of intelligence.
Korzybski made this point so well so many years ago although he was
probably mainly responsible for both hyphenated terminology (mind-body),
etc., and combinational terminology for the same reasons. My concern is
that whenever we accentuate the mind/body concept we continue to
transmit the connotation of "separateness" thus my preference to
"organic" as the connotation of "oneness" and the associated connotation
of "physical" which is much more what I think we really mean (or should
mean).
Saying something is "mental" preserves this division which is, in
reality, simply a reflection of our anatomical observations and desire
to produce a "nomenclature" in our striving to understand
"functionality."
Thus, terminology such as "functional illness, psychogenic illness,
psychosomatic illness," are terms more often used when we cannot find a
"pathogen" such as a bacillus, virus, chemical imbalance or a causal
lesion or trauma; hence, it came from the "mind." Everything we
perceive comes "from the mind" which is one of our "problems," that of
subjectivity, which we cannot seem to "work around" much of the time.
One of my concerns is that modern communications may supply a pathway
for "memetic contagion" that could "infect" huge numbers and result in
social results of a magnitude that we have not witnessed previously. An
example, although not the best, might be the recent experience with the
Heavens Gate group or, better yet, the "conspiracy groups" that seem to
prosper on misinformation or imaginary intrigue perhaps to society's
detriment (by reducing confidence in established authority - which some
might say is not so bad). Anyway, it could be dangerous, for example, if
we were reduced to thinking of Einstein's theories as "Einstein's *spin*
on space/time (another artificial schism which could be referred to
simply as matter)."
Anyway, I thought you might be interested in the above site listed and
find additional information oriented to your career. I'm also Emailing a
copy to make sure you get the URL on the Memetics Journal.
Cordially,
Bob
--
Bob Grimes
http://members.aol.com/bob5266/
http://www.hotwired.com/members/profile/bobinjax/
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Jacksonville, Florida
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Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore....."
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