‘This sign has no meaning’
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Module 15: Meaning, Metaphor and Truth in Holistic Education
Module description:
In relation to a working definition of the process of holistic development this module looks at the nature of, and use of, the idea of ‘meaning, metaphor and truth’ by the teacher, or other practitioner, so as to encourage learning, professional development and/or personal growth.
‘Meaning comes from the shifts of consciousness between being and becoming and involves the affective self i.e. ‘qualities that include beliefs, attitudes, aspirations, values, ethics, interests and feelings’. (Beane) 1990 Affect in the Curriculum: Toward Democracy, Dignity, and Diversity.
Bannister & Fransella (1986) say, concerning Kelly’s fundamental postulate: A person’s processes are psychologically channelised by the ways in which they anticipate events, that the implication is that we are: not so much reacting to the past so much as reaching out .
Everywhere one seeks to produce meaning, to make the world signify, to render it visible. We are not, however, in danger of lacking meaning; quite the contrary, we are gorged with meaning and it is killing us.
Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929), French semiologist. The Ecstasy of Communication, “Seduction, or the Superficial Abyss” (1987)
Dr Paul T P Wong talks about the importance of recognizing meaning at seven levels;
1. Explicit linguistic meanings
2. Explicit contextual meanings
3. Implicit cultural meanings
4. Implicit emotional meanings
5. Implicit relational meanings
6. Intended unspoken meanings (hidden agenda)
7. Unintended unspoken meanings (unconscious motives) http://www.meaning.ca/index.html
Introductory reading/s to get you started:
Meaning:
http://ericdigests.org/1999-2/adulthood.htm SEE ALSO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformative_learning#Another_perspective
http://writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej03/r8.html
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/health/cia/make_meaning/key_concepts_e.php
Metaphor:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor
http://www.uoregon.edu/~uophil/metaphor/metaphor.htm
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Scholarly/Lakoff_Gulf_Metaphor_1.html
Truth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth
A sense of the field can be obtained from Roger Stack’s ‘Map’ of Holistic Education see also his blog
