Design for Thinking (Upton, 1973)

Design for Thinking (Upton, 1973)

A First Book in Semantics

Albert Upton

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Design for Thinking August 16, 2000
Review By Bruce T. Smith

The Design for Thinking is as the subtitle says..a first book in semantics. "Our study is a branch of applied psychology; and like most other practical activities, it is an art which calls for a sound working knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the subject" (the study of language and it usage).

It delineates what is "thinking" by dividing it into six basic phases:

1.Conceptualization

2. Qualification

3. Classification

4. Structure Analysis

5. Operation Analysis

6. Analogy.

Chapters heading include Meaning, Ambiguity, Metaphor, The Practice of Definition, Problem Solving, as well as The Noblest Function of Language (the affective function of language). It has been the most useful book on language that I have read.

p.11 This is a book about the art of making sense.

p.27 What is the meaning of meaning?

p.30 Meaning is always a matter of relation. Nothing ever means itself alone; it can only be meaningful to somebody about something else.

p.31 A unit of meaning - that is, a meaning that cannot at the moment be practically broken up into two or more lesser meanings - is made of a thing and the relation which connects it to another thing.

p.31 The world is really a dynamic operation; only by means of symbols can the mind deal with it "as if" it were a static structure.

p.31 [for one thing to be meaningful] you must have three: a thing, a relation, and another thing. The meaning of one of them is determined by your momentary awareness of the other two

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