Linear vs. Circular thinking: Which is better?
The concepts of linear and circular thought have been reflected in our culture in various ways. These patterns are examined to show whether certain patterns are viewed with positive or negative associations.
drmzz said,
August 16, 2008 @ 9:31 am
Yup. Too many circles make the straight line dizzy. To achieve the big picture, we must go forward to the ’straight and narrow’ to accomplish things. Any constructive feedback or input or support that helps us to go forward is always appreciated.
Here’s what I posted at DeafChipmunk before I had it removed cuz of my “tongue in cheek” dig to Karen (sorry).
“I rather see us go linear (progress) than talking in “circles” (endless spiral of circular reasoning) of whom or what is bad or wrong and so on. I’d like to see closure on this so we can move on and strive to do better and produce some kind of differences. ”
Circular reasoning mucks things up and constitutes of crab theory. We need to keep the eye on the prize, the big picture straight ahead of us. Language rights, Deaf Education, equal communication access, and so on.
Kraut1944 said,
August 16, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Hello Dr. DonG
I love watching your blogs and your vlogs in everytime. I learn more general education and your explanations from your comments very often. Thank you for sharing with me. I want you to keep up more of your blogs and your vlogs. Have a nice day. SMILE!
Starbeam227 said,
August 16, 2008 @ 10:56 am
Hi Don,
That’s a very interesting take on hand-movement in ASL… I never thought of that before especially related to the semantics of individual words.
Very interesting… I enjoy watching your post.
Star
George said,
August 16, 2008 @ 11:59 am
Thank you, Don,
You really helped my confusion about circular and linear thoughts. I did visit Signing Circle video chat and was not happy about it.
Please keep on your Vlog as many have said that they have learned a lot from you on more of a positive side of learning.
Elena said,
August 16, 2008 @ 1:27 pm
Linear thinking is actually a Westernized, gender-specific (male) way of thinking. Check out the book “The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image” by Leonard Shlain– it gives a great layout of the historical development and ramifications of linear thinking of the Western world compared to other portions of the world, AND to how women were oppressed as a result of the shift to linear thinking (had to throw that one in, of course…). Much of the content of the book can give a greater understanding to the struggles of Deaf culture and ASL today.
SDA said,
August 16, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
Very interesting! I’d never thought about those English and ASL examples you discussed. Thanks for bringing in this new dimension in my thinking!
DrDonG said,
August 16, 2008 @ 5:27 pm
Kraut & George — Thanks for the positive feedback!
Starbeam & SDA — there is some research being done out there on how cultural models of thought are expressed in language patterns. Some people have done this with ASL, most notably Phyllis Wilcox and Sarah Taub (I also did a paper on metaphors of Anger — will have to dig it up and post for those of you who are interested in further reading on that).
Elena — Of course YOU would have that perspective!
But thanks for the reference to the book. It does sound like interesting reading.
Karen Mayes said,
August 17, 2008 @ 5:02 am
Interesting philosophical tidbits, thanks for sharing. No, I am not going to disagree or anything like that, because what you said makes sense to me.
I learned about circular thinking… you’d not believe it… from my double major, anthropology/sociology at a hearing college, in 1980’s. No I never graduated from the college… instead I traveled and worked for a few years before deciding to go to NTID where I graduated with a degree in criminal justice. The professor used Jews as an example, that they used a lot of circular thinking (negative? Nope… the professor also used Greeks/Romans for linear thinking… just illustrating differences.) The thinking process has evolved a great deal and many people use circular thinking (like armchair thinkers) and linear thinking (proactive thinkers.) Again, there is NOTHING negative about circular thinking AND linear thinking… it is how we approach thinking process. If some don’t like “circular thinking”, fine. If others don’t agree with linear thinking, fine also.
Anyway, good vlog.
deafchipmunk said,
August 17, 2008 @ 8:37 am
Hi Don,
Yes that is a good example. drmzz did mention that in my vlog. I like his discussion that is very much similiar to your discussion. I have never thought about ASL that is actually more of straightforward language than English language. Just get to the point.
Deafchip
Joseph Pietro Riolo said,
August 17, 2008 @ 9:50 am
The question at the end of your vlog strongly indicates that your thinking is binary.
Both linear and circular thinking can be good and one is not better than other. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. We can see the similarity in analog and digital things. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Many decades ago, almost all products were run by analog mechanisms. Now, more and more products are being run by computers that are almost all digital.
My answer to your question is neither.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.