III. Problems of Context
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A good writer establishes the context for what is to follow.
There are so many contexts in which to interpret experience that
unless the writer directs the reader to a specific context, even
the meanings of the most ordinary words become uncertain. "Male"
and "female" mean something quite different when referring
to electrical plugs than when referring to the mating rituals
of whales. (Bransford and Johnson, 1972, is the classic demonstration
of interpretation by context.)
But because visual thinkers can always "see" the context
they have in mind, they often assume that everyone else can too.
For the visual thinker, context comes with the thought-image
in the form of its background and surroundings. Context and image
appear together as integral elements of a whole thought-just
as the foreground of a painting appears with its background as
an integral whole.
In a visual thought, a thing does not gain its reality the way
words do, by existing in a network of comparisons, contrasts,
and shadings of meaning; it simply appears. It is what it is.
Visual thinkers too readily assume that everybody knows the context
they are referring to.
As a result, visual thinkers can show insufficient regard for
setting context, for comparing the present subject to something
else that is known, for cueing the reader to activate relevant
schemata or contexts for interpretation, or for other common
methods of introducing topics.
Phrases, like pictures, appear out of nowhere-full-blown and
mysterious. Like children first learning to talk, visual thinkers
expect you to know what context is built into their utterance
("Daddy, doggie!") Visual thinkers may suddenly continue,
without explanation, a conversation you last had a week ago,
as if it was still going on; they may begin writing as if you
were privy to their previous thoughts. When visual thinkers have
writing problems, they tend to omit words that explain context
and instead use terms that suggest sudden, unrelated, dreamlike
appearances-terms like "there is," "it is,"
"one can see," "also," and the like.
Many of the visual thinkers whose writings I examined did not
introduce the topics they were writing about. They just started
writing out of the blue. Others seemed to recognize the need
to write an introduction, to establish a context, but did not
seem to know how:
What is a Western point of view towards ethics? How about
Eastern views? Are there differences, similarities? A good topic
to discuss further is how interrelated the two might be [Notice
the verbs: is, are, and be.]
Practice in context-setting, then, should be especially helpful
for visual thinkers who want to write better. Such writers might
especially benefit from studying how good pieces of writing begin.
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