These distinctions come from the works of Raymond Firth, on Symbols. I have not finished the book nor had the time to write systematic notes on it. For the time being, this is this will be the form that I put these vague ideas in.
The Concrete Symbol-Those symbols that refer to specific socio-culture circumstances that link the symbol to the signified, the Chinese full moon to the regrouping of kin, the western snake to original sin, etc. A host of less particular symbols that are seen as quite natural to the people employing them are also of specific socio-cultural nature, such as spring to youth, darkness to fear, etc. and can be regarded as Concrete.
The Abstract Symbol-Those symbols that wish to touch on the fundamental conditions and emotions common to all man, often employing garbled and nonsensical language to achieve a sudden “revelation” Such examples are hard to give, what I think of is a Jackson Pollock, maybe autumn. I have a hunch that Turner would place the color symbols of red, black and white to this category since we all share the same physical bodies.
The Mute Symbol- The most interesting of the three. Here the artist uses geometrical lines and angles to assert a certain relation between objects, and stands back to let the viewer fill in the symbol with his own content. This is a very intriguing concept since it points to a symbolic form existing outside the circumstances which tie the symbol to its meaning. How would this distinguish from seeing a new symbol which we have no context of understanding? How do we recognize that a symbol is being presented to us?
It would be interesting to note here the similarities of the social sciences to art, namely that they both seek to gain a new insight on the world. As the saying from Erza Pound goes, art is to “Make it new!” New is to some degrees always insightful, by providing opposite examples and letting the bizarre elevate the mundane, though in the social sciences, perhaps sticking to what can be proven is best.
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