The Latin verb discurrere means “to run about.” We’ve inherited discursive from it. Wonder whether or not the Romans “ran about” as much as we do? Hey, they were people, weren’t they? I know what you are thinking: “But those were simpler times, you know, times of going to the open market, buying vegetables or slaves taken from captives of a foreign war, going to the Colosseum (Coliseum) to see people kill and get killed, and maybe visiting a soothsayer at a temple to discover a personal future. Yes, much simpler times.”
“Aren’t you forgetting all those wars, both civil and international? And what about all those assassinations? Think Julius. And wars. Think coups and revolutions. Think Hannibal and Spartacus. And the proscriptions! Oh! The proscriptions: People in power eliminating their ‘enemies’ by proscribing their property or lives. And then Nero. And Caligula. Fires and murders. And then the debates in the Forum. Anyway, to return to discurrere, have you noticed that our own conversation is discursive? Both of us seem to wander through various thoughts, both of us incapable of focusing for very long.”
It isn’t just a sign of our times that we can’t stay on topic. It’s a human problem. We want to say whatever pops into our heads, where those 100 billion neurons fighting for some recognition of what they have to offer (the learning of a lifetime) keep us from staying on point.
Is it just my experience, or am I wrong to suggest that most people wander—even when they wonder—from topic to topic as they argue? Whenever I see a political argument on television, I invariably think I’m in for a wild ride from neuronal place to neuronal place, corkscrews and loops, especially the latter. Just when someone is able to ask a very specific question, the answer always seems to include some peripheral or distal topics or to swing around, looping loops. I’ve noticed the same in arguments I’ve heard elsewhere. We are discursive by nature, I think. “Running about” characterizes not only our lifestyles but also our method of thinking. Is there anything that has the potential to keep us in our mental places, on topic and emphatically on point? Anything to keep us in these discursive times from running about so much? Maybe.
Writers have employed allegories. Such tropes provide representations of otherwise complex thoughts and help tell stories without rambling. The allegorical character or object is an unwavering representation from beginning to end. The technique might seem primitive or too didactic to the discursive minds of today, but by its use the story is told. We need a little allegory in our times.
“Aren’t you forgetting all those wars, both civil and international? And what about all those assassinations? Think Julius. And wars. Think coups and revolutions. Think Hannibal and Spartacus. And the proscriptions! Oh! The proscriptions: People in power eliminating their ‘enemies’ by proscribing their property or lives. And then Nero. And Caligula. Fires and murders. And then the debates in the Forum. Anyway, to return to discurrere, have you noticed that our own conversation is discursive? Both of us seem to wander through various thoughts, both of us incapable of focusing for very long.”
It isn’t just a sign of our times that we can’t stay on topic. It’s a human problem. We want to say whatever pops into our heads, where those 100 billion neurons fighting for some recognition of what they have to offer (the learning of a lifetime) keep us from staying on point.
Is it just my experience, or am I wrong to suggest that most people wander—even when they wonder—from topic to topic as they argue? Whenever I see a political argument on television, I invariably think I’m in for a wild ride from neuronal place to neuronal place, corkscrews and loops, especially the latter. Just when someone is able to ask a very specific question, the answer always seems to include some peripheral or distal topics or to swing around, looping loops. I’ve noticed the same in arguments I’ve heard elsewhere. We are discursive by nature, I think. “Running about” characterizes not only our lifestyles but also our method of thinking. Is there anything that has the potential to keep us in our mental places, on topic and emphatically on point? Anything to keep us in these discursive times from running about so much? Maybe.
Writers have employed allegories. Such tropes provide representations of otherwise complex thoughts and help tell stories without rambling. The allegorical character or object is an unwavering representation from beginning to end. The technique might seem primitive or too didactic to the discursive minds of today, but by its use the story is told. We need a little allegory in our times.
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