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 Writing:
Semantics |
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| Supporting reservations are presupposed throughout: |
Initially
If you want to make a statement with a great many qualifications, put some of the qualifications in separate sentences. - Sir Bertrand Russell, in "How I Write" [Hir]
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| FIGURE: The reservations and many terse-looking statements blend on several levels. |
"Well" in this context stands for reservation, qualification, the setting of limiting conditions or limiting modifications as needs be. It is a caveat, i.e., a warning to consider factors before accepting them or acting on them.
The term "well, well" is used to express the same as "hm". Both are translations of the Norwegian tja [Neo 438]. On top of the pages on-site there is a text link to a set of reservations that are to be added to the running text as needs be. To repeat, such reservations are supposed be palatable and encouraging to you too, to do their work as intended by me. One fair aim is optimal rather than maximal reservations, for "too much of a good thing" (a load of reservations) can become a nuisance.
A fit set of reservations is a neat set chosen from the site's Grand Platter (our reservation battery) to be applied ad hoc (as is fit) to any statement, story, and even illustration here. There are good sides to it:
In folklore many sorts of reservations are subsumed and presupposed (quite as Sir Bertrand would have it). So: (1) You are not supposed to believe all proverbs literally, or in just one way. (2) Many tales have additional meanings (metaphoric, allegoric, etc) (3) Idiomatic expressions may employ typified and suggestive elements; etc. Yes, in some traditions listeners are presupposed to have the needed reservations to add to many an expression that looks frisk and over-confident (and hence tendentious) perhaps.
Not Promoting A Lot
We just inform, and are not out to sell anything so far.A "supportive well-well medley" will be explained:
Supportive means, ideally, supportive to me and this site, first and foremost. That is for safety reasons. Ideally, 'supportive' is supportive to both me and you - maybe many others. That is at least a win-win way. And a succinct style that is put to work in a supportive [company] environment can bring about good changes too, according to TA [cf. Bnn; Pla].
For further and remotely related tips, see The Mind Map Book, Mmb 123-274]
The Grand Platter
Below is a "grand platter" (menu). Parts of the meny may be picked out of it and put together to form a fit set of reservations to add to the statement(s) etc. in question.
HELPERS TO PICK AMONG AND ARRANGE IN ORDER TO AVOID BLUNT INDIGNITYThe qualifications that follow may be connected to e.g. "striving to be a man, the worm / Mounts through all the spires of form" by Ralph Waldo Emerson [Em 2]. Or put another statement instead if you like. The lesson is: Learn to connect well.
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NOTE: The dot • in the survey above stands for 'and'.
Examples
"And, striving to be a man, the worm / Mounts through all the spires of form to the degree it corresponds with solid facts, and if [it is] cleared and made fit and stringent, perhaps." A set of qualifications is added to Emerson's statement of faith. There are many other options to "juggle with", including, "Striving to be a man, the worm / Mounts through all the spires of form, to the degree it is correct." And so on. Another: "Striving to be a man, the worm / Mounts through all the spires of form. Hopefully there is evidence that it is so." Look for evidence first, not belief. That is a standard lesson. At any rate, choose parts from among the entries of the so-called Grand Platter (menu, buffet). Here is one pick:- It seems / so it could probably seem
- to be statistically verified later on, hopefully
- , give or take
- in a good, profitable, and rewarding way
- somehow / to some degree
- eventually, all in all, sub specie aeternitatis
Thus, if you think a writer goes too far, or perhaps should have thought of that, you may modify the outré statements by adding reservations. Such a practice may eventually assist discerment if employed just as Buddha is into in the renowned Kalama Sutta from 2 500 years ago.
Eric Berne's Semantics
In his book What Do You Say After You Say Hello? [Hom] Berne explains thathe may refer to human beings of either sex . . . sometimes he may also be used for grammatical simplicity . . . Is means that I have a reasonably firm conviction about something . . . Seems to be or appears to be means that I am waiting for further evidence before making a firm commitment [Hom xvii].In this way Berne suggests where he seems sure, even cocksure. We need to adjust to that. We see that Berne has devised reservations that modify statements, arguable or gross on his part. He has put some qualifications in the quoted, separate sentences (quoted above), just as the Nobel laureate Sir Bertrand Russel wants us to do. As a result Berne could perhaps penetrate into the minds of others better - by (a) shorter sentences; (b) more impressive statements at first glance - a kind of "fake dogmatism". Or by terse and savoury expressions.
Add a good blend of advance modifiers (see the well medley) and see what you come up with.
Three Sorts of Statements
WE LOOK into three sorts of statements: (A) declarative; (C) normative; and (C) joking ones. In simpler terms:- Facts: These statements try to state facts, maybe expose things, explain definite knowledge, and so on. They seek to say how something is, or how things are. The personality instance that Dr. Berne calls the Adult (not unlike Freud's ego) may prefer facts to "fatten on".
- Norms: These statements are marked by "shoulds", "musts", and "ought to's". The seek to tell how things have to be, need to be, and so on. It is possible that somebody tries to dominate through such means. If so, it tends to hinder moral growth. The Parent (not unlike Freud's superego) is full of moral for dominating others or handle bad guys.
- Making fun: These can be hard to explain, and it frequently shows up that two of the most difficult things to explain in a foreign language are philosophy and humour. Humorous statement can help those who can catch the ideas or subterfuges involved, perhaps in the background. There are many forms of humour, though. Not all are suitable at any time at any place. The Child (it is id, libido in Freudian settings) likes fun and loving "at any time".
Ralph Waldo Emerson Talks of Something Similar
Fit examples help in making a teaching more easily understood. Now, suppose that you read:We must leave a too close and lingering adherence to facts [Ralph Waldo Emerson, in "Love"].The just quoted statement looks terse. It is taken (lifted) out of its context, and contains a platitude, which is "too". How much is "too much"? That remains to be settled. The main question is: to what degree and under which presumed conditions does his utterance hold water? If that can be decided with some degree of certaintly, we may also build on it. Thus, the Emerson statement may be taken as valid under some conditions and in some ways and to some degree - but not under all conditions and in all ways and all the way. If necessary we can explore these issues, aiming at what is most reliable, valud, helpful, interesting and maybe fruitful. These are standard criteria to evaluate research topics by.
A first question is: Is it possible to defend it as a general teaching? Well, Emerson says we must leave adhering to facts too much, but do not believe him. Try and find out instead. That is the key.
Here is a fuller quotation that should shed light on the quotation above:
Only it is to be hoped that, by patience and the Muses' aid, we may attain to that inward view of the law, which shall describe a truth ever young and beautiful, so central that it shall commend itself to the eye, at whatever angle beholden.Emerson speaks for an "inward view" which comes close to "realizing", if it is not that. However, patience which he talks for, is hardly enough help in itself (per se), for it has to be harnessed well too. He does not specify the method and other delicate parts of how to employ patience to realize things.
And the first condition is, that we must leave a too close and lingering adherence to facts, and study the sentiment as it appeared in hope and not in history [Emerson].
What Emerson says is that we are to aim at his central concern, and that the possible truth is inner, and presented in some general line of outlook, hopefully. We may reach up to find a good piece of truth by getting to a generalized idea, most likely.
We are advised by Emerson here to look over or beyond particular expressions in order to see for ourselves by insight aided by particular words and their combinations. So Emerson's outlook above ties in well with the set of presupposed reservations on this site.
Aligning a Quite Emersonian Idea to Occam's Razor
That profitable knowledge is elegant [Emerson, attr.], is one way of suggesting a principle called Occam's Razor, also spelled Ockham's Razor, which can be of help to thinkers, writers, and educators alike - to anyone who strives for succinct expressions, ideally.Occam's razor (the principle of shaving off unnecessary stuff) is also called a law of economy, or a law of parsimony. It is named after the scholastic William of Ockham (1285-–1347/4)9. He thought that "Plurality should not be posited without necessity." The principle gives precedence to simplicity, so that for example the simplest explanation is to be preferred if there are two equally valid-looking, competing theories on something. And simplicity may be elegant.
Occam's principle was invoked by the French savant Durand de Saint-Pourçain before Ockham. And in science, Nicole d'Oresme of the 1300s invoked the law of economy in defending the simplest hypothesis of the heavens. Scientists taught and teach about the same simplifying laws and principles. But it was Ockham's name that was fixed to the parsimony principle [Ebu, s.v. "Ockham's razor"]
On Fame
Another statement attributed to Emerson:Fame is proof that the people are gullible [Attr.].You should be trained in thinking "How far is that true?" instead of believing it in a somewhat gullible fashion. Emerson does not specify the conditions he thinks it is fit for, how far, and so on. Nor does he explain what he means by 'fame', what sorts of fame he talks of, or if he refers to all off them. But the gist (inner truth) of his thinking is that "gullible people foster fame". He says fame depends on gullible people far and wide, which may be true too.
Ask not, "Is it a true statement?" Instead ask, "How far could it be true, and under what conditions, and where is the evidence that it is so?" That could help. "Celebrity Worship" is widespread, at any rate.
It could be he thought that much fame is the result of people that are gullible and buy unreliable thrash magazines of are stuck in Celebrity Half-Worship - whatever. As he himself said, "People do not deserve to have good writings; they are so pleased with the bad."
The New England thinker thought people were pleased with bad writings in his day.
By subsumed reservations you may reach terse or poetic elegance of expression, and as far as
possible without disdain - neat and savoury, that is, readable. That is not bad in itself. [LINK]
There are no hard and set rules for orchestrating a tune or simple-looking song
anyhow - but ground rules can give lots of help at times.
Further note:
- In not a few cliques pre-made reservations are NOT welcome - not yet, at any rate. Do not run any risk; adhere to local customs if you can bear with them.
- Some reservation items may work like a wrapping up of some figurative parcel (or clustered message elements): Such items may serve to co-define whole texts and parts of texts, more or less. The "well-well medley" link you may find near the top of most of our pages, has that one purpose.
- It can also be quite entertaining to try out interspersing selected items by putting them inside statements. There are many reasons.
Why "Good" Knowledge?
In an Emerson quotation, or any quotation and bossy statement by others, "good" or "well" may be inserted. A modified Emerson statement reads, "striving [well] to be a man, the worm / Mounts through all the spires of form.It is a boon to know what is good from what is bad. And in real life there is a "grey zone" in between in some cases. We have explained what is very often meant by "good" on this site, at least. The reason is that some things need to be spelled out [LINK].
Then there is Eric Berne again: In his book What Do You Say After You Say Hello? [Hom] he spends some time on "scripts", or basic notions of an infantile nature - they may be counteracted by rational thinking and savoury education, hopefully. That is what he says. And,
Almost every script has roles for "good guys" . . . and for "winners . . ."What is considered good . . . and what is a winner . . . is something peculiar to each script . . . In a cowboy script, for example the good guy is a winner . . . Good means brave, quick on the draw, honest, and pure . . . A winner is someone who survives. . . . In a soap opera, a winner is a girl who gets a man . . . [Hom 37]"What do we mean by 'good' in this site? We repeat; here is a link to explore in order to detect it: [LINK]
Your part is to make some well knit, cogent, fair and polite enough reservations that allow for candid or very poetic style, and define "good" too, for our good . . . There are several other uses as well.
Research Gate
In basic research there are steps and stages. One switches to and fro and between many of them, aiming at finding out of things somehow. A comparative sketch of the standard or basic research procedure is here. [LINK]By using the salient parts and ways of the sketch and similar designs, man rises above the monkey level of aping and conformism.
However - (A Critical Discussion)In scientific training we have to learn to consider possible alternatives to the ideas we study. There are technical terms in this line. And what follows is a sort of "counter-hypothesis" (alternative hypothesis) to finding out of things through scientific constructs, methods, equipment, and evidence-making alone: D. C. Lau interprets and translates Laozi's chapter 15 thus:Of old he who was well versed in the way [Dao]Let us say that the idea that starts to nag you day and night is "In this translation Laozi seems to insist that the really well versed person is too profound to be known. How can I prove it is so? Or could he? Hardly." In the course of your investigations, you should clarify how to measure the one who is "too profound to be known". If not, what cannot be resolved for now, may be kept in suspense, in suspensio. That is a good way to conduct oneself in such a situation, and it can be much recommended in general. For there are many things we may not be able to prove and document through science, as a matter of fact. A proverb goes further: "The stone you cannot lift, let it lie" - at least till you come up with some plan and improved equipment. |
Chapter Summary
A. Subsumed Reservations Easily Help Young Ones
You may love to use "gilded presuppositions" and hence avoid being looked on as a bigmouth even though you express very tersely. It is one pleasure to be precise at times, another to be guarded by reservations.A careful terse style may help in reaching the gist of what is expressed, and assist you in detecting ugly arguments, unfairness and sordid lacks of Sachlichkeit (factuality, neutrality and so on) in the outputs of others, and so on. [MORE]
If you sense there is something of value in a statement, you could choose among splendid reservations from the Grand Platter (reservation battery) for the sake of searching out what that something could be. Selected stock phrases on the Grand Platter can be adapted to the statements you want to look into. It is not hard to do.
Some people prefer to moderate their statements at every turn. They use academic reservations and look very, very careful or guarded. If you make a set of neat, calculated reservations in advance and then say: "Choose among them to our benefit", what you state may become surprisingly direct, poetic too in some ways, even clear and palatable.
Use your own discretion to determine where and when and how to apply these modulating reservation phrases - use them at your own discretion, and not to your harm.
Further know that a decent methodology of learning promotes the learning of keywords and key phrases [see Mmb; Mum; Uy]. Advance modifiers (resevations) can ideally help in making texts easier to read, in making learning easier, because it reduces data to process, learn and remember - and a little practice also helps.
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Adjoined
Bnn: Jongeward, Dorothy et al: Everybody Wins: Transactional Analysis in Management. Rev. ed. Addison-Wesley. Reading, Mass, 1976.Em: Atkinson, Brooks, ed: Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Modern Library. New York, 1950.
Hir: Russell, Sir Bertrand. "How I Write". I The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell. Redigert av Robert E. Egner og Lester E. Denonn. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1961:63-65. Essayet på Internett: www.solstice.us/russell/write.html
Hom: Berne, Eric: What Do You Say After You Say Hello? The Psychology of Human Destiny. Bantam. New York, 1973.
Mmb: Buzan, Tony with Barry Buzan: The Mind Map Book. Rev ed. BBC Books. London, 1995.
Mum: Buzan, Tony: Make the Most of Your Mind. Rev. ed. Pan. London, 1988.
Neo: Haugen, Einar. Norsk-engelsk ordbok. 3rd ed, Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1995.
Pla: Morrison James and O'Hearne, John: Practical Transactional Analysis in Management. Addison- Wesley. Reading, 1977.
Uy: Buzan, Tony: Use Your Head. New, rev. ed. BBC Books. London, 1989.
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