Andre. All. Hello.
I am a member of this forum since some time ago. I new about this forum thanks to JL
Speranza. But, this is my first mail to the forum. As I know I bit -just in a small
degree- both Buddhism and Relevance Theory I try to write a bit -just a small amount-
about this. But, obviously its relevance does not depend just upon me or upon what I
right. I mean that the "irrelevant" meaning of an answer in a Zen like condition dialogue
is to discard metaphysical bearing of it to knock just with pure relevance. This can't
assure that it will be understood -the student most often does not get illuminated- thus
more often results in just an irrelevant utterance.
Let me present two quotes from David Bohm "The totality and the implicated order" which I
have found in the internet. David Bohm was a British quantum physicist, who new the Dalai
Lama and also was interested in language. I hope that the notion of relevance which David
Bohm describes -if it is not already know by you- will appeal as interesting and may even
relevant to Relevance Theory:
Quote 1: [...] to see the relevance or irrelevance of a statement is primarily an act of
perception of a very high order similar to that involved in seeing its truth or falsity.
In one sense the question of relevance comes before that of truth, because to ask whether
a statement is true or false presupposes that it is relevant (so that to try to assert the
truth or falsity of an irrelevant statement is a form of confusion), but in a deeper sense
the seeing of relevance or irrelevance is evidently an aspect of the perception of truth
in its overall meaning. (Bohm, 1980: 33)
Quote 2: [...] it is not right, for example, to regard the division between relevance and
irrelevance as a form of accumulated knowledge of properties belonging to statements
(e.g., by saying that certain statements 'possess' relevance while others do not). Rather,
in each case, the statement of relevance or irrelevance is communicating a perception
taking place at the moment of expression, and is the individual context indicated in that
moment. [...] when relevance or irrelevance is communicated, one has to understand that
this is not a hard and fast division between opposing categories but, rather, an
expression of an ever-changing perception, in which it is possible, for the moment, to see
a fit or non-fit between the content lifted into attention and the context to which it
refers. (Bohm, 1980: 34)
Thus I think that a metaphysically irrelevant answer still may bear relevance to untangle
the metaphysical realm which language bears; which is what a Zen master is expected to
communicate. The illumination is not a experience, because a experience can be described.
We can talk about illumination, but we can't give a definition of it, because it does not
bear any meaning. Just, it is either relevant or irrelevant.
Cordially,
mariano
Dear All,
Relevance Theory
Relevance of an input to an individual
a. Other things being equal, the greater the positive cognitive effects
achieved by processing an input, the greater the relevance of the input
to the individual at that time.
b. Other things being equal, the greater the processing effort expended,
the lower the relevance of the input to the individual at that time.
Irrelevance Theory (tentative):
G: What is the nature of Buddha?
S: I eat rice every day.
Irrelevant, purely phatic communicative moves (phatic communication
being the opposite of informative communication) when used as a
well-planned communicative strategy (not resulting from slips of the tongue or mental
disorders) have greater perlocutionary effects (encouraging to dig deeper with the
purpose of discovering that there is nothing to be dug up),
cause more processing effort, thereby yielding greater probability of exposure to
extralinguistic reality (aka enlightenment, satori, samadhi etc.) as illustrated by the
practice of
koans in Zen Buddhism and Absurd Literature (Lewis Carroll).
(Note: increased cognitive effect about the "verbally described" world yield
nothing but ...)
References:
Lao Tzu
Chuan Tzu
Alan Watts
CARLOS CASTANEDA
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