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• On purpose

  Mark Knowles > 29-07-2020, 05:12 PM

  I read people often write about what the purpose of the Voynich manuscript was. Why did the author write it? What function did it serve?
  
  I seems to be a singular document, so to some people there must have been a singular purpose.
  
  It is natural to view things in very functional terms. However in our own lives all the things we do are not governed by quite so functional goals.
  
  Lots of people do things for rather nebulous reasons. If we ask why someone is researching the Voynich then they might answer, because they enjoy it. Of course, enjoyment could be said to be some kind of functional goal, neurologically speaking.
  
  I suppose I wonder if the author(s) wrote the manuscript in whole or in part out of enjoyment, as a puzzle, a challenge or just an entertaining pastime.
  
  Of course there likely was more than one motive for writing it, but I don't see why we should not consider pure pleasure as a significant motivating factor.
  
  So many of the things we do are done out of pleasure.
  
  Why are you eating pasta for dinner? Because I like it.
  Why are you going to the theatre? Because I enjoy it.
  Why are you reading that detective novel? Because it entertains me.

• RE: On purpose

  -JKP- > 29-07-2020, 05:17 PM

  Eating pasta takes about 20 minutes, a movie a couple of hours, reading a novel... a few days or a week.
  
  Creating the VMS... months, maybe a year or two.
  
  
  So maybe we need some examples that take months or perhaps a year or two.

• RE: On purpose

  Koen G > 29-07-2020, 05:30 PM

  The very notion that the VM could have been made with no purpose other than pleasure is anachronistic.

• RE: On purpose

  bi3mw > 29-07-2020, 05:31 PM

  For "just for fun" the manuscript is too extensive, ( probably ) too much work and too expensive. I think that the writers have put a lot of effort and work into creating something that should have a certain information content for others. I find it hard to imagine the VMS as an end in itself.

• RE: On purpose

  Mark Knowles > 29-07-2020, 06:01 PM

  (29-07-2020, 05:17 PM)-JKP- Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Eating pasta takes about 20 minutes, a movie a couple of hours, reading a novel... a few days or a week.
  
  Creating the VMS... months, maybe a year or two.
  
  
  So maybe we need some examples that take months or perhaps a year or two.

  
  The first thing that occurs to me is a much larger work than the Voynich, namely the writings of Henry Darger.
  

  ---

  (29-07-2020, 05:30 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The very notion that the VM could have been made with no purpose other than pleasure is anachronistic.

  
  I wrote: "Of course there likely was more than one motive for writing it, but I don't see why we should not consider pure pleasure as a significant motivating factor."

• RE: On purpose

  Mark Knowles > 29-07-2020, 06:05 PM

  (29-07-2020, 05:31 PM)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.For "just for fun" the manuscript is too extensive, ( probably ) too much work and too expensive. I think that the writers have put a lot of effort and work into creating something that should have a certain information content for others. I find it hard to imagine the VMS as an end in itself.

  
  "too expensive" is a relative term. What is too expensive for one person is not necessarily so for others.

• RE: On purpose

  Mark Knowles > 29-07-2020, 06:17 PM

  If we think of something like a diary then that is a document that is written for pleasure and for looking back at. The author of a diary writes a bit every day and they can continue writing it for years. Of course some people who write diaries like politicians do so, knowing that their contents would be of use for historians. Many people who write diaries do not expect their diary to be of historical or of interest to others.
  
  Now, obviously, I am not saying the Voynich is a diary, but having a long term person project done for pleasure is not such a strange thing. I can think of people who make elaborate models such as those of old ships, aeroplanes or things of that kind.

• RE: On purpose

  Koen G > 29-07-2020, 06:49 PM

  It would be easier to imagine with examples of (pre-)15th century manuscripts that were written mostly for pleasure. In my experience, the practical component is always predominant. Of course manuscripts were made to be enjoyed by the clients, but in that case the purpose of the maker was purely financial.

• RE: On purpose

  Mark Knowles > 29-07-2020, 07:19 PM

  When it comes the books written for personal fulfilment, what about the following:
  
  Ma Dubo's diary of his journey from Luoyang to Mount Tai
  Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
  
  In general, it seems to me that people have always done things just for pleasure; I don't believe this is a modern idea or introduction. Works of art have been produced purely for aesthetic and not functional reasons by a community. The idea of an individual making something for aesthetic reasons and their own enjoyment seems close to human nature rather than just a cultural feature of modern times.

• RE: On purpose

  Koen G > 29-07-2020, 07:30 PM

  Ah, but the Romans were much more modern than the medievals when it comes to writing and authorship. And Ma Dubo was from a different time and place. This won't solve our anachronism issues.
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