File spoon-archives/lyotard.archive/lyotard_2003/lyotard.0305, message 87


From: gvcarter-AT-purdue.edu
Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 13:19:05 -0500
Subject: Re: Tramps like us, baby, we were born to run


Quoting hbone <hbone-AT-optonline.net>:

> Glen wrote:
> 
> > Another irony, I enjoy reading and sometimes contributing to this list 
> > and others. They certainly have helped with the development of my 
> > thinking. So, in some way, it actually does make a difference.
> > 
> Yes, when you see what you say you know what you think?
> 
> regards,
> Hugh

Hugh,

Your sentiment reminds me of an adage for writers:  "How will I know what I'll 
say until I've said it?"

Just to pause on each, it's interesting how the first--"when you see what you 
see you know what you think"--relies on an optical metaphor.  Reading does, of 
course, call for a visual engagement.  

I wonder, though, if the hearing metaphor changes the impact of the 
adage.  "When you hear what you say you know what you think."  Is it hard 
to "hear" oneself?  

Listen for sub-t[it]le differences here:  "Do you see what I mean?" versus "Do 
you hear what I'm saying?"  

Do "Seeing" and "meaning" go together, generally?  What about "hearing" 
and "saying"?  

Here are two more to look at:  "Do you hear what I mean?" versus "Do you see 
what I'm saying?"

What's the "meaning" of "saying" versus the "meaning" of "meaning," one 
wonders...

***

But anyway: "How will I know what I'll say until I've said it?"

I trust to this often--perhaps too often--though it relies ever-so-much on the 
chance that I will "know" something after the invention of having "said" it.  

Eric suggests that he has "no illusions" about this virtual drive-thru really 
making a difference.  

Does such a sentiment translate to "I know what I'll say, and I've said it?," 
though?  hmmmmm...

***

In the case of Levinas, of course, there is the rather systematic approach to 
the Idea which in some ways eschews a knowing that does not consistently take 
into account the Other.  "How will I know what I'll say until I've said it" 
becomes problematic in that there are so many "said's" out there.  

Levinas might say, "never mind the (chance) creation-invention of so-called 
new 'saids'; the goal is the 'un-saying' of 'saids.'"

Thus, the adage (may) be rendered:  "I can never know what I will 'un-say' 
until I've listened to the 'said' that has said it."

More complicated, of course.  

***

Here's one by John Cage that is simpler:  

"I have nothing to say, and I'm saying it."

Nuff 'said'?

best,

gc

 

  


   

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