CMNS 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: James Gleick, Pictogram, Logogram
5 Feb 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The persistence of the word (there is no dictionary in the mind) This article tells the development/history of the writing. Jesuit priest, philosopher, and cultural historian walter j. ong analysis the technology of communication in human history. He indicated the first technology of human history is writing. Before the writing, there is the oral culture-speech. The words in speech just the sound, they are not visible, they fading quickly. Therefore, the trouble of the oral culture is forgetfulness. Then he argues that in the oral literature, the words that represent the past always by the way of present, they misinterpreted the original intention, such as people use the automobiles to explain the horses. We hope we can understand the history/culture historically and logically, but history and logic are themselves the products of the literate thought (walter j. ong). Ong also explains the writing is the technology, but the language not, then he tells why the language is not the technology.
