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Homo Symbolicum and the Written Word: Perpetuating the Human Mind After Death



Since the very earliest times, we humans have dreamed of overcoming the limits imposed by our bodies, and of using technology to surpass the intellectual, physical or psychological boundaries of our existence. The development of writing in the ancient world is usually ranked as one of the most important of human cultural achievements, as significant as the domestication of fire, the invention of agriculture, and even the development of the wheel. With the invention of the alphabet, writing technology has given us a means to record our words and therefore allows our thoughts to outlive us; the dead can speak to the living. The use of the alphabet permits us to build on the knowledge of others, over generations. It is at the core of our civilizationand some would go so far as to say it is at the essence of our humanness. The technology of writing, it could be said, is a sort of ‘brain storage’ device.

Ernst Cassirer, the 20th century Jewish-German philosopher, claimed that humanity could not be known directly through its physical nature, but rather argued humanity can only be known through an analysis of the symbolic universe that we humans have created for ourselves. Cassirer theorized humans should be defined as animal symbolicum (meaning a “symbol-making” or “symbolizing animal”). As such, instead of Homo sapiens, perhaps the term Homo symbolicum best describes us. After all, as a species, we do acquire most of our knowledge by creating and manipulating letter signs.

This is what makes human primates so different when compared to our other primate relatives, such as our closest relative the chimpanzees (with their 98% genetic similarity to humans). When compared to other primates, humans are symbolic animals. Chimps do not have the ability to amass the knowledge of their ancestors and build on it. They cannot communicate knowledge that may have already been uncovered by some other chimp who lived a long time before them in order to try to make it even better, to improve it. Even if we are social creatures like our monkey cousins, what makes us so special is that we have the written word which can be used to record and relate our discoveries and shared experiences to others who will be born into this world a long time after we have left it behind. Our ability to process symbols and meaning from religious tchotchkes, jewellery, and icons is a skill that has helped us create the world’s great civilizationsit is what makes us Homo sapiens.

With the invention of the written word, there is nevertheless a mindboggling paradox that presents itself: The Gordian knot that I am referring to is that while humans invented writing (thus marking the birth of History), it is an invention that has also seemingly made us into unwilling prisoners of the ideological systems that  the alphabet has helped create. Writing has made us out to be prisoners of History. When the alphabet was invented, Homo symbolicum basically invented himself, and our own perceived sense of reality.

To learn more about how the invention of writing has helped shape the world we live in, please check out my short documentary (approx. 40 min.) Homo Symbolicum and the Written Word: Perpetuating the Human Mind After Death (link below). The main impetus behind this video presentation was discussions I have had with others in relation to my book Deciphering the Proto-Sinaitic Script. The questions I have received and interest shown regarding the wider subject of  the history of the alphabet has compelled me to expand on the topic. 







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