Bird Talk 6 001

Comment

Comment by stripygoose on November 17, 2013 at 7:24am

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
Richard Feynman
US educator & physicist (1918 - 1988)

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on November 17, 2013 at 4:30am

What would I like the birds to be talking about? Something light, simple and easy, and, well bird-like -- a bit like my original (flippant?) comment. I thought this was supposed to be about Mail Art, not some sort of advanced seminar on linguistics, philosophy or something like that.

This is getting rather 'heavy' for me, and -- perhaps like the original birds? -- I am flying away now from this discussion..... back to the world of Art. Good bye. Good luck.

Comment by Dr Chris James on November 17, 2013 at 12:47am

I imagine the post-structuralist theorists would argue that all of these words, 'love', 'light', 'peace', are interchangeable and only relative to their context.  Freud, Lacan, Derrida, Kristeva and many more scholars would say there is no free decision we are all the products of a symbolic order which is unknowable and buried deep in the unconscious [whatever that is].   We can create our own reality, but a simple thing like a brain injury will soon change the reality.  As science and evolution reinvent our environments so too will humans change their ideas on 'love', 'peace', 'light' and all that is named in their perceived existence.  This is already happening.  There might be new rules for metonymy and metaphysics as the human genus recedes into the eternal womb. 

Comment by Dr Chris James on November 17, 2013 at 12:27am

  What would you like the birds to be talking about????

Comment by Dr Chris James on November 17, 2013 at 12:25am

A bird a day; WOW!  That is true dedication! But, what a great way to work. 

 I didn't intend to create a series and to be honest I probably just have trouble naming things - a bit odd for a professional writer/researcher - then again, maybe because I write daily I have come to regard 'naming' as part of the proverbial 'knot' that binds us to language as a form of insular and regulatory universalism.  Hmmmm!  This needs more thought because I am generally more focused on the external world than the inner deliberations of self and ego. 

Comment by Dr Chris James on November 17, 2013 at 12:17am

There is no such thing as 'freedom', it is an illusion; our lives depend on an inter-relationship with world and cosmos.

Comment by stripygoose on November 16, 2013 at 11:04pm

Love it. This must be a series - please explain! I'm doing a bird a day on mailart 365 - just made number 77.

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on November 16, 2013 at 12:39pm

Is the one on the leftb a pacificist, or a Mercedes Benz?

The one on the right is stripy -- is it stripygoose, by any chance?

Last, but not least, what are they talking about?