CONCEPTUAL AND COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS IN WRITTEN DISCOURSE

All movements which attempt to set up a new scheme of values, whether this be political or pedagogic or whatever, are subject to distortion and excess. Practical action requires the consolidation of ideas into simple versions which can be widely understood and applied. This is a necessary process if the movement is to have any kind of stability and substantial effect in the practical domain. The problem of application is: how can we consolidate without misinterpretation? How can we prevent our simple versions from being misleadingly simplistic?