While there are many principles in ecologic, Coe concentrates on one: “that meaning is relative to context. It is thereby a fallacy to discuss a subsystem without considering the whole system or to discuss anything out of context” (233). He believes that we tend to ignore this contextualization because the ways in which we communicate become naturalized to us, so we stop noticing that our communication is operating within a specific context. “Ordinarily, most communications are appropriate to their contexts, and the contexts are so obvious to the participants that we overlook the importance of those contexts. In human behavior, moreover, contexts are often asserted nonverbally…[W]e ordinarily communicate in the context of a set of expectations about ‘normal’ response” (234). More, Coe explains that, as we communicate, we unconsciously look for and respond to feedback from those to whom we communicate; “we do not send the message first and get the response second: if only imaginatively, we receive feedback during the communication as well as after we finish” (235).
He also states, “Human begins do not perceive data” (235); we perceive patterns. “In order to see [any pattern], the observer must (consciously or unconsciously) make a set of choices about what to emphasize, what to de-emphasize, and what to ignore. Only because we usually associate with people who have been socialized to make the same choices that we ourselves make can we overlook this truth about human perception” (235).
*Note: Coe does not define logic. This is the closest he comes: “No matter how non-directive their teaching methods, all writing teachers inevitably give verbal (or nonverbal) feedback which reinforces certain patterns while discouraging others. The totality of those patterns is a rhetoric. Implicit in any rhetoric is a logic and a way of perceiving” (233).
Key Terms
- Ecologic: “1. A logic designed for complex wholes. 2. Any logic which considers wholes as wholes, not by analyzing them into their component parts. 3. Esp., a logical model of appropriate for ecological phenomena” (232).