129. A friendly mouth,
friendly eyes, the wagging of a dog’s tail are primary symbols of friendliness:
they are parts of the phenomena that are called friendliness. If we want to
imagine further appearances as expressions of friendliness, we read these symbols
into them. It is not that I can imagine that this man’s face might change so
that it looked courageous, but that there is a quite definite way in which it
can change into a courageous face.
Think of the multifariousness of what we call “language”: word-language,
picture- language, gesture-language, sound-language
yes – we propose a description of
‘friendliness’
‘a quite definite way in which it can change into a courageous face’?
and yes – we describe the face as having changed – and describe the
changed face as ‘courageous’
as to ‘quite definite’ –
a description – any description –
is open to question – open to doubt – uncertain
there is no definite description
if you are ‘definite’ about your
description –
you play the rhetorical game – not
the logical game
the multifariousness of what we
call language?
yes we use the description
‘language’ in any number of contexts –
this is a fact of propositional
usage
© greg t. charlton. 2015.
