Dear Organlearners,
John Gunkler <jgunkler@sprintmail.com> writes:
>May I offer you a small suggestion for better communicating
>with us on this list?
>
>Please stop trying to create words in English. I know that
>Afrikaans is your native language. So isn't it presumptuous
>of you to try to invent English word usage -- and then to lecture
>us on why you did so?
Greetings John,
I am sorry that the communication failed by the use of "earnest" as a
noun.
My "earnest intent" for using "earnest" as a noun is the following. I did
not want to use the phrase "Is learning our foundation?". For example, we
can speak of system dynamics as a foundation or a founding discipline -
something which you have stressed. But learning is something different.
Whatever we consider as foundation, we gain knowledge of that foundation
through learning. We also improve on that foundation by learning. We could
say technically that learning is a meta-foundation.
In my own systems thinking learning has a foundation, namely creativity --
all acts of learning are acts of creating. This is why I asked the
question "Which comes first -- learning or creativity?" -- a question
which you consider to be unimportant. However, in view of the relationship
between creativity and learning the question "Is learning our foundation?"
is even more a misnomer.
In my contribution "Is learning our earnest? LO20949" I wanted to go
deeper and wider than the foundational issue. I also wanted to question
how dear (beloved, precious, esteemed, noble) is learning to us.
Furthermore, I wanted to question how essential (cardinal, indispensble,
necessary, vital) is learning to us. I wanted to question how implict
(thorough, organic, original, total) is learning to us. Lastly, I wanted
to question how eager we are about learning. Hence I looked for a synonym
of eager which could portray all the rich meanings which I were looking
for. Some synonyms are:- animated, anxious, ardent, avid, burning,
desirous, earnest, impatient, impetuous, intense, intent, keen, longing,
vehement, yearning, zealous. I went to the university's library to look up
the meaning of all these words, trying to find the one suited best,
working through dictionaries like the Oxford, Cambridge and Websters.
In Funk and Wagnall I found the following: "One is eager who impatiently
desires to accomplish some end; one is earnest with a desire that is less
impatient, but more deep, resolute an constant. One is eager for the
gratification of any appetite or passion; but one is earnest in
conviction, purpose or character." One thing led to other. I looked up the
eytmology of earnest. I jumped from its Old English origin to its
counterparts in Old Low Franconian, Old Saxon. Low Saxon, Frisian, Dutch
and (High) German. I had a feast. It struck me that in OE and these other
languges (with the many examples offered for their historic use) the word
has been used more as a noun (root "erns") than as an adjective like in
Modern English. In all these languages the translation of the construct
"Is learning our earnest?" is very natural, unlike in Modern English. In
other words, this construct would not appear to be a presumptuous
invention in these languages.
Eventually I decided to use "earnest" as a noun, knowing that the phrase
"Is learning our earnest?" would sound awkward to the ear of mother tongue
speakers of Modern English. I hoped that the dissonance would cause
English speakers to think about the word "earnest" and what the meaning
which I tried to convey by it. That is why I supplemented it with
information on its Old English origin. The idea was definitely not to
lecture anyone. At the end of the contribution I specifically refomulated
the title of the thread as "Are we earnest about learning?", using earnest
as an adjective. I certainly never intended to waste the time of fellow
learners by using earnest as a noun.
>If you seek an English word for some concept, why not just
>describe it and ask us for our suggestions (that's a form of
>dialogue, is it not?)
>
>In this case perhaps you might have used: "Is learning our
>earnest intent?"
John, I would appreciate any suggestion as to what word I should have
used. The phrase "earnest intent" would not do because learning is not
intent, although learning has intent. What word should I use to question
the paramount importance of learning in the way I did? I became deeply
under the impression that tens of adjectives would not be enough to
describe how serious learning should be to us. I expected my akward
construction would do better.
In my reply to Mark Feenstra I draw a comparison to knowledge and DNA as
structures (beings) because he originally questioned me in a biological
context. Biological life without DNA is impossible. Likewise a living
mind (noelogical life) without knowledge is impossible. But we also have
to think about the processes by which these structures result. In the case
of biological life with respect to DNA , it is the self-making process of
replication/division which unfolds into mitosis (division of cell into two
identical cells) or meiosis (division of cell into four "half" [haploid]
sex cells). In the living mind with respect to knowledge, the
corresponding process is learning.
Just as the process of autopoiesis (self-making by replication/division of
DNA) is essentail to biological life, learning (self-making of knowledge)
is essential to "noelogical" life. (The Greek word for thoughts is
"noema".) If "noelogical" life is dear to us, then learning have to be
dear to us. If "noelogical" life is implicit to us, then learning have to
be implicit to us. If "noelogical" life is essential to us, then learning
have to be essential to us. If we are eager for "noelogical" life, then we
have to be eager for learning. In other words, if we are earnest about
"noelogical" life, then we have to be earnest about learning.
The mind is the complementary dual of the brain (neurological system if we
want to be technically correct). Likewise I use the phrase "noelogical"
life as the complementary dual to biological life. If we analyse all of
the more than 20K contributions to the dialogue on thise LO list, the far
majority of them concerns "noelogical" life. The reasons for such
concerns are numerous (influencing, questioning, describing, trading,
gaining, etc.). These many reasons form such a complex picture that more
and more people forget or do not know what keeps "noelogical" life alive.
It is primarily learning. We can never be too serious about learning. And
in a global society which becomes more complex by the day, our very
survival depends on how serious we are about learning.
But let us leave the biological context. Let us ask ourselves what is the
one thing which is essential to our humaneness? Things like entropy
production, creativity, systems dynamics (thinking) or spirituality? No.
It is learning. What makes our organisations of all kinds functional?
Again it is learning. Therefor we have to focus on learning as the key to
the personal development of each of us and the evolution of human kind.
The greater the lack of learning, the more the seams of our society come
apart, unleasing corruption, crime and violence.
Here is an interesting reason for a lack of learning. I live in a
subcontinent where English colonialism flourished. One of its consequences
is that learning must be in English to be worthwhile. Hence the learning
and development of the native languages were seriously impaired. Even
after decolonisation this situation persisted because of the international
status of English. But through this situation tens of millions of people
are denied learning because they have to do it in English which is not
their mothertongue. Is this not a case of making learning insubordinate to
something such as a world language like English?
I am sorry for having annoyed some people by using the awkward phrase "Is
learning our earnest?". Although I assumed that its dissonance would
unleash learning, it seems that I have rather complicated the issue. I
cannot apologise for speaking the truth, although I can apologise for the
way in which I spoke about the truth. I appreciate any suggestion to
improve on my English. But the one thing which I will appreciate much more
is comments how to ensure that we are earnest about learning.
I am absolutely convinced that learning is our principal directive. I
observe daily how humanity disintegrates when humans make learning
subordinate to other activities or even denying learning. But occassionaly
I am fortunate enough to observe how people improved their lives immensely
depite the increasing disintegration. In each case learning was the
principal key to their success. I wish I had a word XYZ to express it all
in a question like "Is learning our XYZ?"
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
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>