rattus rattus’ blog

The portal of the St. Marx cemetery (Friedhof St. Marx) shows a hexagram, well known as Star of David. Yet, I was told that this hexagram was (and still is) not meant as a Jewish symbol.

Interestingly, a number of gravestones there show six-pointed stars which some consider variations of hexagrams. Though, I found one engraving showing a six-pointed star within a hexagram.

What is part of a symbol?

One of Heinz von Foerster’s favorite symbols was the Ouroboros. (Von Foerster often used a variation where 2 snakes devour each other’s tail.)

At the St. Marx cemetery some gravestones carry Ouroboros, many with an arrow pointing from left to right.

Are symbols just symbols?

I vividly feel as if I was an Ouroboros on fire.

My list of some dichotomies is missing the delicate discretion of women versus men, though it is always good enough for some humor; one that can be found elsewhere but I AM … NOT‘s place is so much more exciting since I AM … NOT refuses to hate me; probably because he believes rattus to be male though she is not. Anyway, I AM … NOT, listen up! You could at least lie to me.

Craftsmen use tools. Tools such as knives, pincers, forceps, scissors, and levers and hammers, of course. Liars are using tools, too. One of them are dichotomies. Just as there are many forms of knives there are many forms of dichotomies. Luckily, for us liars.
So, this is my revelation. I present you my secret list of liars’ tools:

Synonyms for dichotomy

bisection, criticism, cutting in two, decision, dichotomization, discernment, discrimination, discussion, distinction (to distinguish), division, intersection, sectioning, secretion, separation

So much for synonyms from an etymological point of view. Here is a list of synonyms from a modern day point of view:

analysis, bifurcation, branching, being twofold, categorization, classification, compartmentalization, consciousness, definition, departure, detachment, determination, deviation, difference, discipline, dislikeness, disparity, dispute, dissimilarity, divergence, diversion, divorce, duality, forking, grouping, inequality, isolation, particularization, parting, partitioning, polarization, science, seclusion, segregation, taxonomy, termination, unlikeness, unsimilarity

Enough for more than a liar. Yet, there are also some closely following, related terms:

arrangement, assortment, contradiction, disagreement, discrepancy, hierarchy, order, set, sorting, …

Antonyms for dichotomy

alliance, bind, combination, connection, glue, hedging, joint, likeness, saving, similarity, synthesis, system, unification, whole

Note how most of these “antonyms” can only react to a dichotomy, and others are missing accompanying words that describe an action, such as wholing, wholement or wholination. In some way, they are antonyms, but they were not if it wasn’t for dichotomization. There are no antonyms for dichotomy itself, as there cannot be any antonym for something that contradicts itself.

Watch out for dichotomies. Dichotomies are lies.

But don’t forget: Language is deceiving.
By the way, deception is a form of dichotomization.

Here is a little reward for still being with me: Etymologically seen, I know of two families of words that magically try to overcome the paradox of dichotomy: Words derived from the stem war(a)– of which only a few are left; awareness, warrant, and the German wahren (to conserve, to care) being the most well-known. The other family gathers around the stem fri– which meant “(your) own, (be)loved, proper” (sometimes written as “pri-“). I know of three words which are derived from it: free, friend, and German Frieden (peace).

Concluding my recent praise of Stefan Böschen’s Praise The Paradox I wrote

He was lucky nobody listened to him.

Here are 2 excerpts from the transcription of an audio recording of the conferences final discussion:

To begin with, Stefan fosters his praise of paradox by stating that part and counterpart complement each other. He explains that thinking of any thing means to distinguish the thing from what it is not, its opposite. He then underlines the importance of this concept with a short reference to life’s essential interplay of order and chaos.

The next speaker replies:

What I am still missing is consciousness.

And he continues to tell a story of the demise of corner shops, small groceries and merchants, and how we are all involved.

At a second occasion, Stefan Böschen reinforces his praise of the paradox. He refers to its ambivalence and its inevitability. Finally, he reminds us to be sensitive to unintended side-effects of decisiveness and unambiguity, and that this sensibility should be one of the objectives of any educational system.

The next speaker (by the way, not the same) replies:

This, simply, is not enough.

He says, he misses analysis and perspective. And he concludes with “this will lead us nowhere”, cuts himself, and continues to reply to someone else.

This is about Stefan Böschen, because it is not. I know Stefan because I do not. You know, I am lying about him because I do. And, he does too.

It’s been my pleasure to meet Stefan Böschen at the conference on Future and Ignorance where he gave an interesting talk about politics of knowledge. Stefan is an adept of self-contradiction. Probably, we were naturally attracted by each other and therefore we found ourselves in a sunny morning session playing ping-pong with the paradox of hedonism. In other words, we were laughing our heads off.

At the conference’s concluding discussion, though, Stefan repeatedly said three words: Praise the paradox.

Sincerely. I smiled. This was the essence because it was not. Like when you pursue the paradox its magic is lost. The gospel’s message is the joy of singing.

Praise the paradox.

Because it is one. Stefan said he’d sing it, yet it’s no cant. His utterance is no praise for praise’ sake, no praise of praise. It’s a courageous expression of an insight. Seeing the paradox at the bottom of life’s heart. The frugal philosopher saying No to himself with a content smile. Playful like an innocent dog, the yet unnamed cynic.

Praise the paradox.

Bald words. Raising their voices against themselves, leaving us with bare bones of all of life’s choices. Naked ideas that cannot but provoke which is why they do not.
Says he who still questions their affordability. Still with a smile on his face.

Stefan’s praise of para-dox, this concept that infamously contra-dicts anything and everything within reach, me, you, him- and itself, denies the distinction of Good and Bad, right and wrong, knowledge and ignorance. Praise of paradox denies denial.

In the end, this is responsibility.

God, he was lucky nobody listened to him.
Well, nobody but a liar.

An interesting conference about Future and Ignorance (“Zeit der Zukunft, Über den Umgang mit Nichtwissen“) took place and time from April 28th to April 30th, 2006.

People from many completely different fields of activity have met to discuss implications of what we do not know, of the unknown, of ignorance, and — as I tend to call it — of the not-known.

Talks were given e.g. by a historian, by philosophers, sociologists, epistemologists, and theologians, by an expert of modeling, and someone from an insurance company; all talking about diverse aspects of what we know, and what we do not know, and what we cannot know.

Yet, not one of them has defined knowledge, let alone not knowing or ignorance.

You! Yes you. You are a typical disfinist. — I mean, of course, one has to distinguish finite and infinite disfinism, self-referent and intentional disfinism. Moreover, we should also investigate spatial and temporal aspects of disfinism. But, let me tell you once again, your disfinism is stunning.

High art lying.

In order to prevent shoplifting a huge neon colored sign right at the cash point of a local grocery reads

Please, show your bags UNSOLICITED!

Today, I had a bag with me. Heck, that made my head spin.