In a message dated 8/26/08 4:31:52 PM, Brady writes:
> You regularly claim that the "meaning" is re-
> created or evoked in the listener's mind. IF that is so, does not the
> presence of different translations of the same work imply that the act
> of recreating or evoking the author's "meaning" in the mind of the
> other person is imperfect (and hence, there cannot be "the" meaning of
> anything)?"
>
Because the act of evoking meaning in another's mind is imperfect doesn't
imply that there is no meaning. Unfortunately for us it does imply that if
imperfect, then perfect. This is not a state of communication we are likely
to
reach. An object often implies a variety of meanings within a culture-and we
cannot claim to view objects without dragging our culture along with us. This
claim that the object is meaningless unless someone comes along and thinks it
means something,and that even then the meaning only resides within the
someone's
mind doesn't take into account that objects are of themselves cultural,wh
ich renders the claim specious since it has not acknowledged the circumstances
of the object's making. Any attempt to claim that only natural objects were
intended,or to confuse the question by embarking on discussions of what
culture
was intended can be defused by pointing out that it is only the culture that
the somebody coming along brings with them that is meant here, and that
consequently it is only what that somebody's culture arouses about the object
in
their mind that can produce meaning,Peruvian shepherds not withstanding. If
an object has been made within a culture and is then viewed by someone within
that culture then it is not the same action as when an object is made within
one culture and viewed from another culture. It is also not the same action as
when someone from one culture views a natural object and someone from another
culture views that same natural object. Nor does the somebody coming along
necessarily place the same meaning in the object at different times,large or
small. However, within a culture, in a general sense, someones coming along
do
tend to place the same sort of meaning in objects, whether natural or
made, and that meaning placed is modified by the someone's
experience,education,whether their feet hurt, etc. This placement of meaning is
imperfect only if one
expects communication to be a mirror of what was intended by the author, and
there seems to be something strange about that ideal,maybe even sublime.
Kate Sullivan
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