Does Stevie Wonder speak the same language as us?
How the hell do his words refer in the same way that ours do?
He may experience braile words on a wall-- but that experience seems really far from our own.
I'm taking semantic externalism as the cue.
2006-08-02 13:23:23 · 5 answers · asked by -.- 6 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Fun question! I don't think he meant those words literally but figuratively. The writing on the wall refers to prophecy. He went on to say that if we believe in things we don't understand we'll suffer. How many of us believe in things we don't understand? How many of us strive to understand what doesn't make sense? It's actually quite a thought-provoking song depending on how it's viewed.
2006-08-10 12:44:07 · answer #1 · answered by CosmicKiss 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm guessing that it's easier for a blind man to understand people without sighting impediments, than the opposite.
Knowledge takes time. If a man without sighting impediments reads the work of a blind man, he may be missing a lot of information. But if he had a blind brother, he probably would understand better. And if a non blind, with no experience in blindness, listens to a blind man singing, he may get most of the message, just because of the information contained in the singing voice of the blind man.
Look at the way our brain collects knowledge. We receive information constantly, but only part of it becomes knowledge: When our brain notices many similar events constantly, it reinforces the neural connections related to those events, and so they become knowledge.
If we don't get at first what a blind man thoughts are really about, it could be said that we are wrong. But it also could be said that we aren't wrong, it's just our first opinion on something we haven't had much contact with.
2006-08-02 23:51:12 · answer #2 · answered by OrtegaFollower 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Um, well, on thinking this over and having perused a lot of "stuff" here on Yahoo I wonder if Yahoo Q/A is the place for intellectualism. I have read maybe 300 Q's and what I find is sarcasm, smart-a** comments, inane, insane, profane, but very little brain work.
Don't know the answer, but congratulations, it did make me think--finally.
I have to get a life! :-)
2006-08-02 21:24:59 · answer #3 · answered by chris 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Close your eyes for awhile, does it change anything? He's only blind. He might be a bit more "in tune" with the world around him, since he probably listens a lot more than the rest of us do. Maybe his experience is far from our own, maybe it's deeper, more profound.
Gives the rest of us something to think about...
2006-08-02 23:18:13 · answer #4 · answered by DrCoraline 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The phrase "writing's on the wall" comes from Daniel, in the Bible. Read about it.
2006-08-10 09:42:48 · answer #5 · answered by Steven B 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋