CMNS 1115 Lecture Notes - Marshall Mcluhan, Orality, John Stuart Mill
Document Summary
Ong and mcluhan approached the notion of historical development by examining the forms of communication technology that were dominant in each historical era. Ong"s main interest was in the way that oral societies and literate societies differ, and his specific emphasis was to study how the change from orality to literacy had significant social, cultural, and educational implications. Example: teacher talking and student listens paying attention. Exosomatic memory: taking ideas and putting outside of body, storing it somewhere else. Testimony in courts must be given orally. Orality is important in public debates, especially in political forums. Graduate students must complete an oral examination. Marriage ceremonies have an important verbal, ritual component. We can say that although the significance of contemporary occasions of orality may sometimes be ceremonial, they are not in any sense unimportant or merely incidental. Still value what people say although we live in an oral culture. Speaking encourages people to lose their sense of thought.
