Martin asks if "distinctions" have some use in organisational
learning. It's use is in gaining access to how people see the world
and is related to "mental models".
Linguistics refers to "deep structures" as the background for
the personal meaning of words. This relates to our linguistic
labelling of experience and the connections to an experiential and
emotive past.
"Distinctions" are linguistic constructions that we can discover - as
in the ones that we've learned/inherited - or create by generating
our own domains and connections. These are not "definitions" which
are narrower and follow a logic that lacks the richness of
distinctions.
The idea of distinctions is useful for both discovering what it
operating and for generating new operational understanding. They
would seem very useful in any organisational learning initiative -
even life in general.
--
Michael McMaster : Michael@kbdworld.com
book cafe site : http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe
"I don't give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity
but I'd die for the simplicity on the other side of complexity."
attributed to Chief Justice Brandeis
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations
For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>