What Is Context? ⚠️

[Sugarcoat]

15 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

For some reason today i go through a state of self honesty, close to what i can feel on 4 ho met.

When i read the topic here i feel like everybody is insane and unconsciously subject to authoritarian forces, archetypes lol.

Like I'm coming from the topic about "should I have friends" and I just laughed to myself about the fact that op asked me that, and you answered something like it's normal to use people "to develop yourself".

Everything sounds goofy and nonsensical; i crave beer, cigars and laughing alone. 

It’s like there can be a temporary alteration in our sense of reality. It’s like in high school sometimes when I looked at my crush it’s like I could suddenly see him without my mental filter projected and suddenly the attraction dropped. 

[Joshe]

11 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

Is the context not what gives "content" its meaning?

I don't think so. This gets back to the "perception" aspect. 

Meaning is derived from the perception of the context and content. Without the context, the content can't have meaning, but that doesn't mean the context gives or assigns the meaning. Context does largely determine what meanings can be derived, (which is what I was trying to get at with the "objective" quality), but subjective interpretation interacts with the objective aspects to select what meaning actually arises.  

Context limits meaning and makes specific meanings more likely. It paves the way for meaning. Without context, content can't be interpreted meaningfully. 

The main aspects are: context, content, and perception. All of these are interdependent. 

• Context = the structured possibility space
• Content = the distinctions inside it
• Perception = the interpreter that derives meaning

It seems hard to come up with a good definition for context without mentioning the other 2.

Keryo brings up a good point about how context changes over time and is influenced by previous meaning making. This seems important to have in the definition.

All that said, I'm still failing to see how this inquiry pays off. All I'm doing here is exercising my cognitive abilities.

Edited August 25 by Joshe

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, Keryo Koffa said:

I'm trying to acquire schizophrenia myself, but it's harder than it looks

Be careful what you wish for.

Try writing as if you're creating an infographic for collective transport, which old people, young people and people with dementia and language difficulties are the most likely to understand.

Edited August 24 by Carl-Richard

[Carl-Richard]

52 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

It’s like there can be a temporary alteration in our sense of reality. It’s like in high school sometimes when I looked at my crush it’s like I could suddenly see him without my mental filter projected and suddenly the attraction dropped. 

That's some female attraction shit right there.

[Sugarcoat]

1 minute ago, Carl-Richard said:

That's some female attraction shit right there.

😂😂It was kinda spiritual, like I awoke to how it was all in my mind 

[Carl-Richard]

42 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

😂😂It was kinda spiritual, like I awoke to how it was all in my mind 

Male attraction is like you remove layers and attraction only rises 😶🤣

[UnbornTao]

On 8/24/2025 at 11:01 PM, Joshe said:

I don't think so. This gets back to the "perception" aspect. 

Meaning is derived from the perception of the context and content. Without the context, the content can't have meaning, but that doesn't mean the context gives or assigns the meaning. Context does largely determine what meanings can be derived, (which is what I was trying to get at with the "objective" quality), but subjective interpretation interacts with the objective aspects to select what meaning actually arises.  

Context limits meaning and makes specific meanings more likely. It paves the way for meaning. Without context, content can't be interpreted meaningfully. 

The main aspects are: context, content, and perception. All of these are interdependent. 

• Context = the structured possibility space
• Content = the distinctions inside it
• Perception = the interpreter that derives meaning

It seems hard to come up with a good definition for context without mentioning the other 2.

Keryo brings up a good point about how context changes over time and is influenced by previous meaning making. This seems important to have in the definition.

All that said, I'm still failing to see how this inquiry pays off. All I'm doing here is exercising my cognitive abilities.

Thanks, I'd say I largely agree with you on the core aspect of context: it's a kind of precondition... But it is a challenging topic. My definition: the possibility for new domains of distinction to arise. That, in itself, is a creative act of consciousness. 

But you're approaching the matter merely intellectually - that's why it seems pointless.

Consider the influence of language in our lives. It's immense. Think of the inventions it enables: communication, art, science, philosophy, religion, "talking" with yourseld. You couldn't even be reflecting on this topic now, questioning the usefulness of the inquiry, without this backdrop!

The leaps in consciousness required to create language are now taken for granted. Yet gaining insight into language is earth-shaking. Consciously experiencing its nature transform the way you relate to your overall experience.

Self, mind, and value are also contexts - and that's significant.

It's like Newton's insight into gravity - what did he personally get out of it? An understanding of a principle that helped shape modern physics.

Or a fish glimpsing a reality beyond its watery world.

As useless as it may be to us, in the end it's about what's true.

Edited Wednesday at 08:05 PM by UnbornTao

[Carl-Richard]

Is context just one thing? Does it not depend on the context? 😛

Edited August 25 by Carl-Richard

[UnbornTao]

18 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Is context just one thing? Does it not depend on the context? 😛

We're using language, so a single term must suffice. The distinction associated with the term has to point to some experience or notion, however nebulous it may be.

As for context, it is specific, yet it is not a thing. Go figure.

Again, the analogy of space is apt. What is space? Where is it found? Space is the source of the "where."

Oh, I'd add that possibility is open-ended.

Anyway, some raw reflections that might not have directly addressed your point, sorry. Hopefully others can contribute to that.

Edited August 26 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

[UnbornTao]

The game series Monument Valley is a fun way to get a hint of recontextualization.

Edited August 25 by UnbornTao

[Sugarcoat]

19 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Male attraction is like you remove layers and attraction only rises 😶🤣

It def rises….

[Schizophonia]

1 hour ago, UnbornTao said:

 

based

[ExploringReality]

 

 

[UnbornTao]

@ExploringReality "So what things are, therefore, depends on the context in which they're found."

[UnbornTao]

On 8/25/2025 at 3:35 PM, Carl-Richard said:

Is context just one thing? Does it not depend on the context? 😛

I'd add that possibility is open-ended. That applies to context too, in the way I'm holding it as 'possibility.' But a context obviously has to be particular. It can't not be nothing, or anything. Otherwise there would be no use for the term/distinction. But it is not a thing - it is neither objective nor found, it isn't formed, and it seems to precede perception. Language is language, not something else. What is that particular context? Not the content of language, such as symbols or metaphor, but what allows you to think about such distinctions in the first place?

We may say that Mind is the larger "house," without which the subcontext - in this case, Language - can't manifest. But I don't know.

Edited Wednesday at 09:35 PM by UnbornTao

[ExploringReality]

You guys!!! I figured it out. 

Context is Mind.

It's the waves on the shores of Empty Mind. There are infinite requisite varieties of Contexts and each possible context is like a grounding string that holds your sense of sanity together. Think of any possible context right now! Okay you might start by observing your immediate surroundings and conclude the basic context in which you exist right now is you standing on some firm ground in some place around some town on some planet etc, if not your own personal or psychological context or where you find yourself right now emotionally and financially. But either way no matter what context you're able to grasp right now, try to notice that it's being held by your mind. That specific context or any context, doesn't exist out there in the world. Because the same context can be looked at in many different ways by many different people. Your context is specific. Context is. I don't know what the fuck it is. Lol

Edited Thursday at 02:47 AM by ExploringReality

[Keryo Koffa]

Everything is context to begin with, context is a supertautology, all inferences are contexts, matter is context, physicality is context, perception is context, inference is context, self is context, relationality is context, meta-contextualizers such as relativity, associativity, temporality, spatiality and any means by which they become relatively embedded, described, understood, contextualized are themselves made of contextual recontextualizations, the capacity therefor contextually necessitated in the source of the contextualizing medium contextualizing itself by the means of its perception through.

What is a Concept but a Context and what is a Context but:

Edited Thursday at 09:37 AM by Keryo Koffa

[UnbornTao]

8 hours ago, ExploringReality said:

You guys!!! I figured it out. 

Context is Mind.

It's the waves on the shores of Empty Mind. There are infinite requisite varieties of Contexts and each possible context is like a grounding string that holds your sense of sanity together. Think of any possible context right now! Okay you might start by observing your immediate surroundings and conclude the basic context in which you exist right now is you standing on some firm ground in some place around some town on some planet etc, if not your own personal or psychological context or where you find yourself right now emotionally and financially. But either way no matter what context you're able to grasp right now, try to notice that it's being held by your mind. That specific context or any context, doesn't exist out there in the world. Because the same context can be looked at in many different ways by many different people. Your context is specific. Context is. I don't know what the fuck it is. Lol

But what if mind is a context too?

[Carl-Richard]

5 hours ago, Keryo Koffa said:

and any means by which they become

by the means of its

I only see non-native English speakers use this phrase when trying to be verbally impressive.

Edited Thursday at 03:30 PM by Carl-Richard