Replying to LO25412 --
Dear Organlearners,
Jan Lelie <janlelie@wxs.nl> writes:
>nothing as pratical as a good theory. I use my theories
>as a map. I need a map to know who i am, why i am here,
>where i'm going and how. Because my situation seems to
>be pretty complicated, i need a map that is as complicated
>- the law of the prerequisite variety.
>
>I assume that everybody uses maps - and thus theories -
>to make some sense about who you are, why you're here,
>where you are, where you're going to and how to come there.
>It is a pity - or a shame, or a fact, or original - that we're not
>fitted out with a map from birth.
Greetings Jan,
I love your comparison of creating theories with creating maps.
But I wonder how many fellow learners have worked with different kind of
maps and not merely a road map. People usually have experiences in using
only road maps and often merely to get distances from these maps.
Using a map is not merely interpreting the information which it does give,
but especially by making learned inferences and even wild speculations so
as to generate probable information which it does not tell. For example,
when on a road map the road makes a U-bend, it is most likely going around
a mountain or avoiding a ravine. Looking for a river shown in the
vincinity gives a clue to which case it will be.
The worst kind of maps are "place names" maps because of the density of
words appearing in it. Brinks, hills, tracks, farms, mines, grave yards,
monuments, villages, rural shops and whatever has been given a name
appears on it.
Topographic maps shows countours of elevation, rivers, dams and other
major constructions on them. Agricultural maps show the various kinds of
agriculture practiced in a region. Geological maps show all the kinds of
geological strata underneath the ground and where outcrops of them occur.
Soil maps show the various kinds of soil as they are distributed over a
region. Weather maps shows metereological data such as duys of overcast
cloud, says of rain, precipitation, hail, frost, average temperatures for
the four seasons, humidity, etc. Ecological maps show the main types of
vegetation, insect and animal distirbution.
An ecological map begins to make incredible sense when one compares it
with each of the other kinds of maps. This is holism (the whole is more
than the sum of the parts) at its very best.
The kind of maps which interest me most, but which are also very rare, are
language maps. I usually have to prepare my own language maps by adding
bits and pieces to them as I read more about the history of languages. A
language map will show the distribution of languages over a continent
every couple of centuries. To understand these language maps better, one
needs two to three other kinds of maps -- political maps, religious maps
and economical maps. Here again the holistic outcome is hair raising.
Likewise there are many kind of theories. Theories are intellectual maps.
It is when we begin to go beyond what each theory tells directly or when
we relate different theories to each other when the holistic outcomes of
transdiciplinary thinking puts joy and passion into thinking.
I personally do not like theories which use only words. They are like
place name maps -- a pain for my mental eyes to comprehend. I like
theories which give a picturesque (diagrammatic) impression. For example,
see how many pages it has taken me to say in words some of the things
which the one expression /_\F < W tells. But like picturesque or
diagrammatic maps, one must learn how to put the symbolic expression in
words. It does not come automatically, nor easily.
Jan, I especially enjoyed your spiritual maps depicted with
>I made this while continously reflecting on not only my
>work, acts, thoughts and feelings but also the works of
>others, like the Fifth Discipline. This map is a map of four
>realities, four spiritualities, four ways and means and thus
>a kind of MetaTheory.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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