Unit I: Basic Clarity of Thinking and Communication
IN THIS LESSON
Agenda
Grammar Review: Parts of Speech and Linking (copula) sentence structure: S/P/PC: PA, PN; exercise;
apprehension of simple sentences)---iceberg /substances and accidents (the beginning of style apprehension/material logic—the weight of terms)
Connection to grammar: what apprehensions and concepts are under even the simplest propositions/judgments? (subject/copula/predicate) How propositions are affirmations or negations of existing things; the importance of terms
Grammar: Apprehension of concepts as found in simple sentences
On the spot exercises in naming parts of simple sentences
Material Logic 2: Collect answers for ML 1. Questions on ML 2 exercises–if needed, help students with these in class. Again, push them in terms of depth, completeness, clarity, concision, and precision (look at these as writing exercises as well as thinking exercises).
If time, workshop a little on summer reading essay
Homework
Quill: packets
Work on summer reading essay: : due next class
Finish up ML 2 questions as needed
Notes
1.1. Grammar: they are working on Quill, doing some basic review and remediation. In class, I will review basic parts of speech and talk about them logically as well (as it does in Material Logic, Lesson 1). For example, I’ll show them a word like “car” and ask them to define it grammatically and then logically. During this process, I’ll begin adding in terms like “substance” and “accident” so that they are more prepared for the lesson on the Categories.
I’ll then show them that the structure (syntax) of language reflects some basic logical concepts we apprehend in reality. The most basic syntax is an expression of existence (substantial form): “It is” or “I am.” We can even talk about the Lord’s name, given to Moses: “I am who am.”
I then talk about how we usually go beyond just simple expressions of existence; the next most basic syntax AND logical expression is an expression of definition, a linking sentence:
I am a human person. (S/linking verb/PN). Logically: Substance/copula/genus (category).
I am tall. (S/linking verb/PA). Logically: Substance/copula/ (genus) and accident. (I am a human person who is tall).
Finally, I talk about how even basic sentences and terms contain expressions of existence, and that the sentence we hear/read is actually just the tip of the iceberg:
I (there is an “I” and it indicates myself thinking of myself, an individual); am (this I is expressing existence); a (one of many); human (adjective expressing that this is a certain form of “person”); person (a category of beings that have moral agency); altogether—expression of being as essentially part of this category, taking on the characteristics of that category.
I will then show them that most sentences are not these basic propositions, but are actually combinations of basic propositions. Style is largely a matter of the way in which the terms represent and organise the underlying propositions.
For example: “The invisible God created the visible world.”
This is not one proposition, but rather at least five.
Thus, sentences are like icebergs…what we see on paper or hear are condensed combinations of propositions; how we choose to combine and present them is the essence of style.
Here’s the opposite way to go:
Christ is the Word of God (logos). The Logos is order. Logos is meaning. Logos is language. The Logos makes the invisible visible. The Logos existed since the beginning. The Logos was with God. The Logos was God.
St. John combines it this way: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Why? Look at the first verse of Genesis: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
I don’t do this just as a circus trick, but to begin showing them that sentences are created from terms and these are concepts that have depth and weight, that they are apprehensions of reality and truth, and so TERMS MATTER. DICTION MATTERS. SYNTAX MATTERS.
I will then either play a game or have them complete some exercises so that they recognize both the grammatical and logical syntax of these basic sentences—just to test their understanding.
The Ideas for “check” /games:
Write some simple sentences on the board. Ask them to write their own combination, a sentence that isn’t repetitive but is concise and yet includes all the propositions (some implicitly). Then they can read out the sentences. They can expand and create meaning through connecting words.
I am angry. I cook eggs. I cook eggs in the kitchen. The kitchen is dirty. I have a sister. My sister was in the kitchen.
Write a simple sentence on the board. Ask groups to label the terms in the sentence grammatically and then logically.
This is simple grammar review, on one level: on another level, it is a philosophical look at how our language structure REFLECTS how we apprehend the structure of reality (the centrality of substances/things and the attempts to define them, to qualify them with description and renaming--subject complements), etc.. Also, I want them to see that even the simplest terms are "holding" huge realities (existence, essence, substance versus accident). Words hold MEANING, which is not reducible to the material sounds or written symbols. This also gets at the holistic way we know the world (getting at those things that are beyond just materialism or the parts: the WHOLE is usually a spiritual reality). This awareness of the "tip of the iceberg" nature of language is the beginning of an ability to master style, because we see that when we change terms, and in English, word order, we are shifting massive amounts of meaning through emphasis and precision in terms and phrases (the paradigmatic and syntactic relationships--which I teach as soon as they have this review of basic grammar, or when it seems right).