A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

Paradoxically, the alphabet enabled the Greeks to reduce the illusive polyphonies of their oral culture by selecting and logically (visually) connecting what had been simultaneous and musical. If the Greek means of abstracting and conceptualizing was by logical connection, the abstract art and science of the twentieth century proceeds
by the contrary means of pulling out the "logical" (visual) connections in space and time. This returns the art and philosophy of today to musical form.
“Alphabet, Mother of Invention” with Robert K. Logan, Et Cetera, Volume 33, No 4, January 11, 1977, p 377
Year: 1977
↪ Also at #4876, #7151
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan