Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The grammatical structure of the universe

Tzetan Todrov apparently calimed that:

Not only all languages, but all signifying systems conform to the same grammar. It is universal not only because it informs all the languages of the universe, but because it coincides with the structure of the universe itself.

Tzvetan Todorov, Grammaire du Decameron (The Hague, Mouton, 1969), p15 quoted in Hawkes, Structuralism and Semiotics, p96.


One who believes in a wise and "orderly" creator might have more reason to believe that than the atheist.

If it's true, then it seems plausible to me that we might see these deep universal structures especially clearly in the Bible and the sacraments since they are words and signs that the Creator God has given us. They may be central paradigmatic signs (even microcosms) that enable us to read something of the whole of creation declaring the glory of God to us and bearing the marks of having been made according to grand plans and purposes.

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