The Origin of a Context

On this blog and in the writings of many other people through history, the idea of “context” as a component of the definition, interpretation and usage of symbols plays a large role. Be it called “situational” or “cultural” or any of a number of sometimes more and sometimes less academic notions, context provides the key (just as a cipher is a key to an encryption code) to interpreting any message. Without knowing the context, many messages will be uninterpretable, or even worse, unrecognizable.

But what is “context” really? Where does it come from? Here is my decidedly informal discription.

 

Two people thinking their own thoughts meet for the first time

A conversation starts and one tells a story.

The other listens, interpreting silently what she hears into her own experiences.

She then responds, reflecting what she thought she heard, but with a variation or two. 

Conversation Begins

The first person agrees with some of her response. He hadn’t at first thought of the variation, but now that she’s mentioned it, he knows she’s on to something.

 

Conversation Ends Context Begins

The two part company, carrying a memory of their conversation.

When they meet again, they will reinforce and reiterate their common perceptions on the matter. This is the origin point of CONTEXT: the set of principles and concepts that the two agree about, and the shared vocabulary they have used to describe them.