As I was going through the passage written about the parallels between symbols and maps (pages 19-21), it occurred to me that false maps are everywhere we turn. As Hayakawa writes, "Some of the follies we commit because of false maps in our heads are so commonplace that we do not even think of them as remarkable...All such [superstitious] people are living in verbal worlds that bear little, if any, resemblance to the extensional world." (page 21)
The reason this passages strikes me in such an odd way is because it seems that we all live according to false maps. Isn't it true that we all have assumptions and superstitions (from the subtle to the obvious)? We have already established that any word can never have the same meaning twice, and that every individual has his or her own "personal dictionary." Then there is no general reality in this sense because everyone sees things quite differently. So how can someone be regarded as living according to a false map? Perhaps regarding something as "false map" in another may be indicative of a "false map" in ourselves. But to quote George Costanza of Seinfeld, "It's not a lie if you believe it."
2 comments:
Its sort of complicated to explain, but I think that false maps are only false because they are different than everyone else's in a sort of relative fashion. For example, 1+1 = 2 only because we all agree that it does. If a kindergartener writes on their paper that 1 + 1 = 3, we consider it wrong, or a false map because it is different than everyone else's. The same is true for the dollar, which has no actual backing, the "imaginary" number i (square root of -1), which only exists because mathematicians all agreed that it was easier to solve problems with it, and many other things.
Some might say that this system of comparing individuals' maps to the map of the group crushes individuality, but such comparison and the subsequent correction are necessary things. If we disagreed that a circle represents the sound o and so on, writing would be impossible.
So in the end, it is ok to consider somethings as false maps as the correction that ensues is necessary. I don't that it indicates a false map in ourselves. Extending the last quote, it's not a lie if everyone believes it.
Hey, it's Erin - sadly if I don't say that first thing, I'll forget to put my name :(
Anyway, I think that Ian made an interesting point. People can create "false maps" at will, and make them to be believed. It's a process of indoctrination. Didn't Hitler say tell a big lie and tell it often? Because the more someone hears something, has it reinforced over and over, the more able they are to regurgitate (spelling?) it and believe it without question.
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