DANCEST 303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Human Taxonomy, Neocortex, Johannes Gutenberg
Document Summary
It is only when information is written down the patterns start to emerge, and incompatibilities become visible. = written language appeared separately in at least four cultures: china (6000 bce, egypt (3200 bce, sumer (3200 bce, america (300 bce) Pictogram = pictures that resemble the persons, animals and objects they represent. Phonogram = signs that represent sounds of the spoken language. Egyptian hieroglyphs = representation of spoken syllables. Phonemes = meaningful sounds in the language -> replaced phonograms. Alphabet writing system = phoenician alphabet, formed the basis of arabic, hebrew and greek alphabets. The writing system that has remained closes to pictograms is chinese (later became logographic = sign representing a spoken word, no longer has a physical resemblance to the word"s meaning) Written records provide the basis of the cumulative nature of science. New thinkers do not have to rediscover what previously thought. Changed the way in which knowledge was preserved.
