The Civilization of Illiteracy

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Dresden University Press, 1997 - History - 881 pages
Phenomena related to the transition from a literacy-dominated civilization to one of various means of expression and communication are at the center of his book. The fall of totalitarian regimes, the current structural difficulties of the European Community, the burden of state bureaucracies, the world-wide effort of re-engineering, and the global economy are part of the bigger picture of a necessary development.
 

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Page 528 - When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean— neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things.
Page 500 - Words strain, Crack and sometimes break, under the burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, Will not stay still.
Page 851 - He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
Page 851 - Were we required to characterise this age of ours by any single epithet, we should be tempted to call it, not an Heroical, Devotional, Philosophical, or Moral Age, but, above all others, the Mechanical Age. It is the Age of Machinery, in every outward and inward sense of that word...
Page 838 - The words or the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought. The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be "voluntarily
Page 852 - On every hand, the living artisan is driven from his workshop, to make room for a speedier, inanimate one. The shuttle drops from the fingers of the weaver, and falls into iron fingers that ply it faster.
Page 781 - As to their studies, it would be well if they could be taught everything that is useful and everything that is ornamental. But art is long and their time is short. It is therefore proposed that they learn those things that are likely to be most useful and most ornamental, regard being had to the several professions for which they are intended.
Page 776 - Let us remember that the automatic machine, whatever we think of any feelings it may have or may not have, is the precise economic equivalent of slave labor. Any labor which competes with slave labor must accept the economic conditions of slave labor.
Page 780 - God's highest and extremest act of grace, whereby the business of the Gospel is driven forward.
Page 805 - Symbols grow. They come into being by development out of other signs, particularly from icons, or from mixed signs partaking of the nature of icons and symbols. We think only in signs. These mental signs are of mixed nature; the symbol-parts of them are called concepts.

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