an online book by David Gurteen
Walter Ong was a renowned American scholar and cultural theorist who extensively studied the impact of communication technologies on human consciousness, particularly emphasizing the significance of orality and literacy in shaping cultures and modes of thought.
Walter Jackson Ong (November 30, 1912 – August 12, 2003) was an American Jesuit priest, professor of English literature, cultural and religious historian, and philosopher. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy influenced culture and changed human consciousness. In 1978 he served as elected president of the Modern Language Association.
Credit: Wikipedia - Walter_OngFew people know how much you have to know in order to know how little you know. Credit: Walter Ong Comment: This phrase highlights the paradox of knowledge: the more we learn, the more we become aware of the vastness of what we don’t know. It reflects a deep intellectual humility, where gaining expertise in … Continue reading How Little You Know Walter Ong
Technologies are not mere exterior aids but also interior transformations of consciousness and never more than when they affect the word. Credit: Walter Ong Comment: This quote suggests that technologies, especially those related to language and communication, don’t just serve as external tools but fundamentally shape human consciousness and perception from within. It highlights how … Continue reading Technologies Are Not Mere Exterior Aids Walter Ong
Written words are residue. Oral tradition has no such residue or deposit … Though words are grounded in oral speech, writing tyrannically locks them into a visual field forever. A literate person, asked to think of the word ‘nevertheless’, will normally (and I strongly suspect always) have some image, at least vague, of the spelled-out … Continue reading Written Words Are Residue Walter Ong
Why Face-to-face Interaction Matters ** Friends with Cognitive Benefits Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter Before the widespread use of writing, oral communication was the primary method of sharing knowledge and culture in society. This oral tradition is called orality. Orality refers to the quality or characteristic of being oral or spoken rather than … Continue reading Orality ** The practice of transmitting knowledge, culture, and traditions through spoken language
