Visual Language from the Verbal Model

Abstract

Hypothesis: the visible world is a script, presented in alphabetical forms, which we have to learn to read. In looking at the ancient problem of how we see, we must first consider the conflict of common sense vs. illusion in our interpretation of what we see. Man learns to decode a complex code of vision, which includes bridging the gulf between a written language and a spoken language (both called, for example, "English") as well as between visuals and tactuals. Seeing is modeled upon reading; painting, sculpture and photography are modeled on writing—and are forms of writing in visual language.