Re: Form

[Tim Gwinn <***>]

Steve,

'Form' is a very multi-faceted word...in much the same way as the Greek word
'logos'. I tend to think of 'form' - in the usages you originally quoted -
as roughly synonymous with 'arrangement' or 'configuration'. The quote from
Spencer-Brown seems to me to refer to the arrangement or configuration as it
arises from drawing a distinction (e.g., drawing a circle on a plane).
Without drawing that distinction, there exists no form (i.e., no arrangement
or configuration), and so an absence of anything,  thus "To experience the
world clearly, we must abandon....form to void".

Regards,
Tim

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ROSEN Forum [mailto:*** Behalf Of Steve
> Johnson
> Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 12:18 PM
> To: ***
> Subject: Form
>
>
> Judith,
>
> Thanks, that is helpful. I suppose "form" the way
> Howard used it is a primary notion akin to
> "organization" in the Rosennean sense, perhaps not
> amenable to definition.
>
> Form is obviously a common word but when used as a
> known 99% of the time it is a synonom to the word
> "type" or "kind". For example in the two sentences
> below (not related to this discussion) "form" and
> "type" are interchangeable.
>
> "I believe that we'd have to wait for Topos tools in
> this field, and especially some form of generalization
> of Hopf Algebras"
>
> "One can accuse him of applying his own form of
> reductionism"
>
>
> On the other hand it is very rare for the word "form"
> to be used as an independent subject as in Howard's
> email: "Only form gives meaning".
>
> >From now on I'll assume that when used as a free
> standing noun it referes to "organization" in some
> sense.
>