WORDS AND ACTIONS

  WORDS AND ACTIONS

The ‘Physical’ and the ‘Semantic’, seen via a problem-solving strategy for making sense of something - 

Here is a problem-solving strategy : “Hold it tightly, upright and steady, in one place, and build other things around it with reference to it.” 

This is both physical and Semantic. Lets see how. 

Consider this sentence - Bill is a Physics undergraduate.

Now, “a Physics undergraduate” (which could also be described as “a Physics-undergraduate”) is “invented” English, after undergraduate programs in universities began in the world. We neither say “undergraduate of Physics” nor do we say “undergraduate of the subject Physics” nor “Physics’s undergraduate” which would be the logical constructions of the same. What have we done to solve this problem of naming when elements like ‘Physics’ and ‘undergraduate’ were floating around in the mind begging to be arranged in a meaningful form as a name? We held Physics tightly upright steady in one place - asserted the word Physics. And then we attached the others - undergraduate (in this case) - to it. We built the world around the word Physics with the rest being arranged with reference to it around it - attached to it. Even a physical scenario is similar. When we have to arrange some physical items and are confused, what do we do? We begin; we take a first step - we fix one of them tightly upright and steady in one place, and then arrange the rest around it with reference to it (on the basis of some relative rationale as regards to it). 

The problem solving strategy - in the Semantic and physical realms - is the same ! 

This shows that in some senses, our ways to deal with words have been inspired by those to deal with physical objects. More importantly, our Semantic and physical realms imitate each other.