Hayakawa Chapter 10 o Giving Things Names A differentiation set itself up, and, abstracting the common characteristics. o The question what is it really? Or what is its right name? are nonsense questions. o Things can only have “right names” only if there is a necessary connection between symbols and things being symbolized. o What we call things and where we draw the line between one class of things and another depends upon the interests we have and the purpose of the classification. o Each is useful for its purpose. o If our culture upbringing was different, the world would look different to us.
o Also, many people can’t distinguish between like things. For example salmon, perch, pickerel, etc. They just call them “fish.” o When we name something we are classifying. o The individual object or event we are naming has no name and belongs to no class until we put it in one.
o The extensional meaning of a word determines a prior existence. o In matters of “race” and “nationality”, in the way in which classifications work is especially apparent. o The effect that each classification has upon what he may or many not do constitutes their “reality.” o It would be exactly as justifiable to say that any person with even a small amount of “white blood” is “white.” Because the former system of classification suits the convenience of those making the classification. o Classification isn’t a matter of identifying “essences” but it is simply a reflection of social convenience or necessity. o As soon as the process of classification is completed, our attitudes and our conduct are determined.
The Essay on Do The Right Thing
The movie Do the Right Thing, a group of people in the district of Brooklyn, have had enough and tensions are growing in this black ghetto area. The only local businesses are a Korean grocery and Sal's Pizzeria. Mookie, Sal's delivery boy, manages to always be at the center of the action. The movie Do the Right Thing is a movie about a neighborhood that suffers from lack of diversity. On a hot ...
o The Blocked Mind Snap judgments suggests that such errors can be avoided by thinking more slowly; this isn’t the case, for some people think very slowly with no better results. o What we are concerned with is the way in which we block the development of our own minds by automatic reactions. o Some people may say, “A Jew is a Jew and there’s no getting around that.” o They have an extensional Jew with the fictitious “Jew” inside their heads. o The fictitious “Jew” inside their heads remains unchanged in spite of their experiences. o Some people ignore the characteristics left out in the process of classification. o Cow 1 Is Not Cow 2 o Practically all statements in ordinary conversation, debate, and public controversy taking the form “Republicans are Republicans” are not true.
o An example is “business is business.” The 1 st business invokes denotes the transaction under discussion and the 2 nd invokes the connotations of the word. o The terms of the classification tell us what the individuals in that class have in common. The index numbers remind us of the characteristics left out. o This prevents us from confusing levels of abstraction and forces us to consider the facts so we don’t regret it later.
o “Truth”o Many semantic (relating to the meaning) problems are problems of classification and nomenclature (assigning names).
o The decision you make rests not upon appeals to past authority, but upon what society wants. Society regards as “true” those systems of classification that produce the desired results. o The results by society may be irrational, superstitious, selfish, or humane, but the scientists produce predictable results. o Science seeks only the most generally useful systems of classification.
