Subject: R=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=E9p.?= : They sometimes behave so str angely From: Branka ZEI <Branka.Zei@xxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 13:55:26 +0100 List-Archive:<http://lists.mcgill.ca/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=AUDITORY>Dear List, I would like to welcome Ole Kühl's remarks that raise fundamentally epistmological questions Ole said: >There seems to be a switch between two perceptual modes in our cognition, a >music mode and a language mode, prompting us to ask: How can we explain this >switch? and What triggers it? Is it a purely cultural phenomenon, as some >writers have suggested, or does it rest on biological properties as well? It is certainly a cognitive phenomenon that may be influenced by culture. > the mode-switch phenomenon may have to do with the >way we conceive of the fundamental categories language and music Categorization itself is a cognitive phenomenon. It is can be at least partially based on the object-inherent properties ( categorization known as "de re" - e.g all green apples), but it can also be based on the observer's viewpoint ( categorization known as "de dicto" - e.g. alll the apples that I like) Categorization is usually relevance driven and related to a praxis. Language-mode is related to the praxis called speech communication involving a socially shared linguistic code, while music mode is not related to such a code (although music can be seen as transmitting meanings) >The categories language and music are not >predestined and given by nature, they are part of the semiotic web in which >we perform our investigations. Of course Categories do not pre-exist in nature. They are cognitive constructs resulting from human cognitive operations and as such will always remain observer-dependent (quite unlike naive empiricists' opinions). Best to all. Branka ____________________ Branka Zei Pollermann PhD Psychologue Psychiatrie de Liaison Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève 51 Bvd. De la Cluse, 1205 Genève tél. : 0041 22 382 48 81 Portable : 0041 79 203 92 17 ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. **********************************************************************