Michele Pasin / Quotes

The cat and the mouse

Prior to human beings there were no objects, since objects arose with language. If we see a cat chasing and catching a mouse, then for Maturana the 'cat' is (not) eating the 'mouse'. Rather "it is flowing in the structural dynamics of its structural coupling/congruence in its domain of existence". The 'cat' does not exist as a 'cat' for the 'cat'. It cannot exist until somehow language arises for the cat.

Saved 29 June 2014 / www.oikos.org ↗

#language #cats #objects #Maturana #being

IT cannot be made an object

The difficulty is not only that language is dualistic, insofar as words are labels for mutually exclusive classes. The problem is that IT is so much more…

The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are #words #language #difficulties #objects #sense

The head-tailed cat

Here is someone who has never seen a cat. He is looking through a narrow slit in a fence, and, on the other side, a cat walks by. He sees first the head, then…

The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are #cats #head #cause #brain

Classic ontological questions

Further examples of ontological questions include:[citation needed] What is existence, i.e. what does it mean for a being to be? Is existence a property? Is…

Ontology - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia #being #physical-objects

Death as the great Western bogey

So far as we know, animals do not live in constant anxiety about sickness and death, as we do, because they live in the present. Nevertheless, they will fight…

The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are #human-beings #being

Experiencing with more awareness

As it is, we are merely bolting our lives—gulping down undigested experiences as fast as we can stuff them in—because awareness of our own existence is so…

The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are #nerve #brain #eyes #ear #being

General ontology vs regional ontology

Aristotle defined Ontology as the science of being as such: unlike the special sciences, each of which investigates a class of beings and their…

Ontologies And Knowledge Bases: Towards A Terminological Clarification #formal-ontology #ontology #being #distinction #world #science