Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Trivium pursuits
- 2 Ex nihilo: the grammar of polarity
- 3 Licensing and the logic of scalar models
- 4 Sensitivity as inherent scalar semantics
- 5 The elements of sensitivity
- 6 The scalar lexicon
- 7 The family of English indefinite polarity items
- 8 Polarity and the architecture of grammar
- 9 The pragmatics of polarity licensing
- 10 Visions and revisions
- Appendix: A catalogue of English polarity items
- Notes
- References
- General index
- Person index
1 - Trivium pursuits
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Trivium pursuits
- 2 Ex nihilo: the grammar of polarity
- 3 Licensing and the logic of scalar models
- 4 Sensitivity as inherent scalar semantics
- 5 The elements of sensitivity
- 6 The scalar lexicon
- 7 The family of English indefinite polarity items
- 8 Polarity and the architecture of grammar
- 9 The pragmatics of polarity licensing
- 10 Visions and revisions
- Appendix: A catalogue of English polarity items
- Notes
- References
- General index
- Person index
Summary
But the truth is, they be not the highest instances that give the securest information, as may be well expressed in the tale so common of the philosopher that while he gazed upwards into the stars fell into the water; for if he had looked down he might have seen the stars in the water, but looking aloft he could not see the water in the stars. So it cometh often to pass that mean and small things discover great, better than great can discover the small.
Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, Book II, 1.v. (1605)As above, so below
Bacon's philosopher might be forgiven for looking too much upwards and not enough down. We look “up” not just to the stars and the sky, but to those we admire and to our highest ideals. We look “down,” as often as not, on things we despise, things beneath us, which are low, mean, and base. Familiarity breeds contempt, and it is easy to forget that what lies beneath may also run deep.
Figuratively speaking, up is where it's at. Up is above, on top of, superior to, beyond; it is higher than, taller than, farther than, and more. It can be a location or a direction. It is defined within a larger frame, the vertical scale, which it shares with down – normally, the physical dimension parallel to an upright person standing erect on an even surface.
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- Information
- The Grammar of PolarityPragmatics, Sensitivity, and the Logic of Scales, pp. 1 - 19Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011