Musicologia by Maconie Robin;

Author:Maconie, Robin;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2010-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

LECTURE ON NOTHING

Consider the following:

1. If you cannot read, you are not reading this.

2. If you can read, but not English, the meaning of this statement is that you cannot read it.

3. If you can read English, this statement is a tautology.

4. The significance of this statement is the significance of this statement.1

The presumptions a reader brings to bear on any statement and dialogue are of interest because the existence of language implies a precondition that language is possible, so that for communication to take place presupposes a sharing of language as well as of information (or rather, that every act of communication is simultaneously a rite of verification of the language itself and its ability to convey information at all). For information to be shared, it has to be understood—at least, up to a point. Imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, it is also a fundamental indicator of understanding. The issue here is the limit of understanding implied by direct imitation. Whether the purpose of communication is to enable the recipient either to act independently, or merely to obey: whether information is understood with reference to understanding the language, or the information content of language. For example, the statement “I am in pain” may appear incomprehensible to a person who does not speak English, meaningless or incomplete to a philosopher for whom pain is inexpressible, hence nonexistent, or a genuine cry for help. Understanding the process of information exchange is a fundamental consideration of artificial intelligence, and also of philosophy. How we understand the operation of dialogue in speech has a bearing on music as well. The case against music, and modern music in particular, is founded on a misconception that information can only be shared by means of a language, that language communicates spontaneously, and that because music, especially modern music, does not communicate anything specific, it is not a language. The analogous case against poetry is that it does not qualify as language use for the purposes of communication science or linguistics because its use of language is invincibly subjective and its information content is either trivial, or negligible, or at best unreliable. Arguments from communication science, as from incomprehension, further imply that statements in language are morally bound to convey useful information, making philosophers to that extent obligated to avoid bringing language itself into disrepute by raising doubts over the reliability of terms or the efficacy of language as a medium of communication. The assumption that to deal with language is to deal with the whole of communication is only one of the more startling misconceptions of modern day linguistics and linguistic philosophy.

In 1950, when information science and artificial (machine) intelligence were exciting and new subjects of inquiry, a British biologist declared that “The function of language is to tell each other as much as possible that is useful, so that we may help each other to live,” adding that pleasure and pain, which are indefinable, do not therefore “exist.”2 Such a statement

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