From: CWestf5155 (CWestf5155@aol.com)
Date: Wed Mar 18 1998 - 17:52:01 EST
Dear Edgar,
In a message dated 98-03-18 16:33:04 EST, you write:
>
> I ask you, would Thales need an entire sentence or paragraph if I uttered
> the word
> LOGOS in his presence? Would he think of all the meanings of LOGOS or would
> he quickly
> comprehend what I meant? When a minister uses the word "justification" in a
> sermon,
> most parishoners would sense he was speaking theologically because of an
> acquired
> presupposition pool which they share. In fact, a context added to the word
> might
> obfuscate its meaning. They might have to sort out what he means.
>
> Something to think about,
>
> Edgar Foster
I was just reading something about this today, so as 'one born out of time' I
thought that I would add a small bit.
The 'presupposition pool' is as much a part of context as is the immediate
text. If I uttered LOGOS in Thales presence, and he 'understood' it, it would
mean that he 'created a context for the utterance that gave it coherence' .
That isn't to say that he accurately figured out what I meant, but that he
figured out some kind of context in which my utterance made some kind of sense
to him.
Cindy Westfall
PhD Student, Roehampton
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