Kelly Cooke - assigned reading excerpts

The Medium is the Sign
Kelly Cooke

Marcel Danesi’s ‘The Medium is the Sign: was McLuhan a semiotician’ describes the impact that the
technology of writing had on society. Danesi states on page 115 that, “McLuhan was among the first to
\realize that changes in media (like changes in signs) leads to changes in social structure and in
knowledge systems. Pictography did not alter the basic oral nature of daily communication, nor did it
alter the oral mode of transmitting knowledge of early societies. That occurred after the invention
of alphabetic writing around 1000 BCE—an event that brought about the first true radical change in
the world’s social structure.” Pictographs not altering the oral culture very much is aligned with the
thoughts David Abrams had on pictographs in ‘The Spell of the Sensuous.’ Abrams believed that
because pictographs drew from the natural environment in the tools used in and the images portrayed
that it was similar to oral communication in it’s effects on society. Though the Alphabet, being
entirely man made did have major effects in the way that it shifted society and social structure.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adam Sheldrick- Thoughts on cannibalism

Throughout this class, we have learned about various forms of traditions and customs that I was not aware of before. With that being said I think that it is not right for humans to consume other humans under any circumstances. I am a firm believer in letting people do their own thing and not bother them when it comes to religion but there’s is a point where you have to draw the line and say enough is enough. I understand that if there are traditions for certain religions and groups of people where cannibalism has been practiced, but there are other ways to honor God. It is not my place to tell them what they are doing is morally wrong but something should be put in place to attempt to put an end to this. There have been many times throughout history where things have been carried on because it was seen as “normal,” but then as time has gone on changes were put into effect to stop it. The rates of cannibalism have decreased as history has gone on which is a good sign because as the data...
Read more

Adam Sheldrick - The Significance of Symbols

In the Rollo May reading on The Significance of Symbols, he talks about how man is the only symbol-using organism. This is important because this is what sets us apart from the other creatures in this world. The ability of “man’s capacity to separate inner meaning and the outer existence” is what gives us the ways that we can learn and understand symbols and put them into action and be able to communicate with them. This reading covers multiple of the concepts that we have talked about in class, such as the sacred with the history that comes along with symbols and how they have evolved over time just like humans have in terms of intelligence. Paul Ricoeur goes over his definition of a myth in his writings of The Symbolism of Evil. His interpretation of a myth is “a traditional narration which relates to events that happened at the beginning of time and which has the purpose of providing grounds for the ritual actions of men of today...” in this definition Ricoeur helps us better under...
Read more

Kip Redick Intro

Welcome to the 2020 Primal Religions class blog. Make sure to start the blog with your name and the subject of the entry (just as I have done with this post). Blog entries will be considered informal writing assignments and as such will be graded more in relation to content than style. Blog entries will contain questions and answers to questions, as well as reflections that relate to daily classroom discussions, completion of exercises, and reading assignments. Any questions the student has while reading or completing assignments should be written in their blog. Reflections may relate to connections the student makes between discussions in this class and those in other classes, between arguments raised in the readings in this class and those raised in other classes or from informal conversations. Students are encouraged to apply the ideas learned in this class to activities that take place outside of the class. These applications make great reflections. The student should bring ques...
Read more