Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Practical Understanding and Theoretical Knowledge
Understanding theoretically—rather than just experiencing practically or
exploiting—the differences between term and phrase searching requires
movement beyond the theory of computation to linguistics, specifically
to Saussure for an account of signification in written language (Saussure
1916/1983), and to information theory for the possibilities and con-
straints on the combination of words into phrases (Shannon 1948/1993).
Comprehending patterns revealed by phrase searching might illuminate
why search engines have been perceived as effective. For instance, retriev-
ing documents exclusively on a topic corresponds to a principle intended
but not always achieved purpose of humanly assigned index or meta-
languages and to an aim of classical information retrieval, particularly
when oriented toward precision. With phrase searching, some expertise
and mental labor has been transferred from description to searching.
Synthesizing aspects of the seldom-connected fields of Saussurean linguis-
tics and information theory could be facilitated by establishing analo-
gies between their principal concepts: between the syntagma (the linear
sequence of utterance) from linguistics and the message from information
theory and the paradigm (the network of associations) and the messages
for selection.
This reverses a commonly assumed relation between theoretical knowl-
edge, practical experience, and understanding and gives practical under-
standing priority over theory. Philosophical antecedents to this reversal
are found in Marx's insistence on the value of rising from the abstract
to the concrete (1858/1973, 101) and in Vico's preference for practical
understanding over philosophical universals (1710/1988, 62). Giving
priority to practical understanding may be particularly appropriate for
human communication, since the ability to communicate characteristi-
cally precedes analysis of communication. Vico's comments on his own
account of the transition from primary orality to literacy, regarded as the
coevolution of spoken and written language, are particularly apposite:
All this seems more reasonable than what Julius Caesar Scaliger and Francisco
Sánchez have said with regard to the Latin language, reasoning from the prin-
ciples of Aristotle, as if the peoples that invented the languages must first have
gone to school with him! (1744/1976, 153 § 455)
Similarly, practical understanding may have preceded theoretical analysis
regarding the transition from paper-written to electronic literacy.
