Tuesday, September 27, 2011

What is nonsense?

We learned in philosophy of science about the logical positivists.  A major part of our study related to "counterfactual conditionals".  These are If-Then sentences that refer to conditions that have not been met but might be, such as "If I were to strike this match" where I haven't done that so far.  There was an interest in developing a more precise language among some thinkers, especially in Vienna and Berlin,  in the early 1900's, preferably one in which true statements were easier to make and false ones more difficult.  

You may have noticed that children arrive in this world without user manuals.  For that matter, boy friends and girl friends happen without manuals, too.  As a teacher, I have always found the business of exploring minds and maybe getting to understand them just about the most fascinating thing in the world.  My mind is fascinating and so is yours.  So is trying to inform you about my mind and absorbing what I can from you about your mind.  

When we hear a baby babbling in a crib, we know that the baby is working on language and mental development.  We don't ask if what the baby is saying is true or false because as far as we are concerned, the utterances have no truth value.  I don't say they are nonsense, that they are actually meaningless because that determination is surprisingly difficult, fundamental and human.  Although, now that I think about it, Polanyi pointed out a long time ago, that animals from squirrels and raccoons to cows and dogs exhibit memory.  So, who knows?  Maybe the squirrel really does have meaningful Post-It notes in the nest that indicate the location of acorns, as depicted in an ad I saw.  Heck, even bees do a little dance, I am told, that may look meaning-free to us but conveys to the other hive members the location of some valuable flowers.

So, it is very difficult to say when something like an utterance or a book or note or the placement of a stone is meaningful and when it is not.  We like to say something HAS no meaning but what we mean is that we cannot detect any meaning being conveyed.  Someone from another era or culture, with sharper eyes or more imagination might be very touched or deeply informed by what we find to be nonsensical.  Snarling out "Nonsense!" can be effective rhetoric and may at least quiet one who disagrees with us, but proving that something is nonsense is difficult.

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