Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 01:32:28 +0000
From: Colin Wight <Colin.Wight-AT-aber.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: BHA: rts chapter 3, section 5


Hi Howard,

Sorry I didn't reply to your last mail to me (life as a member of staff
differes considerably from that of a student, I'll get back to you some
time, but suffice to say I wasn't upset or anything).

Just a small point though. "Untreated sewage" swims in the see. "Fish"
polute my beach. Despite the arbitrary nature of the sign, it requires
justification (we are now calling fish untreated sewage and vice versa) in
order to change this usage. Often this is imperceptible, and the
justification will be a social convention (as in lets call that disgusting
stuff on the beach Fish and that rather tasty morsel "untreated Sewage".
Often we have no need to reflect on our conventions until we reach a fault
line. the point is that once the arbitrary sign Fish refers to a tasty
Morsel, a redescription of Untreated Sewage as fish doesn't work very well.
Well ast least i'm not going to eat it.

(All of this comes from Collier I think).




===========================================================Dr. Colin Wight
Department of International Politics
University of Wales
Aberystwyth
Wales
SY23 3DA
Tel Work: (01970)621769
Tel Home: (01970)627537
=============================================================

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