Mazes
From Maze
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The terms "maze" and "labyrinth" are generally synonyms in colloquial English, and indeed, many Western languages only have one word to designate the concept of a path-structure. Despite this common usage, over the past century many scholars and historians have argued for (or against) a careful distinction between these two terms. In this proposed distinction, "labyrinth" refers to only to single-path (unicursal) structures, while "maze" refers only to branching-path (multicursal) structures. | The terms "maze" and "labyrinth" are generally synonyms in colloquial English, and indeed, many Western languages only have one word to designate the concept of a path-structure. Despite this common usage, over the past century many scholars and historians have argued for (or against) a careful distinction between these two terms. In this proposed distinction, "labyrinth" refers to only to single-path (unicursal) structures, while "maze" refers only to branching-path (multicursal) structures. | ||
| − | In this discussion, the terms "maze" and "labyrinth" are not used to distinguish two different categories of structure or image. In our view, such a distinction does not accurately reflect the history of Western consciousness of the maze as a single conceptual category, in particular our recent popular imaginary in which the environments of Theseus and Pac-Man are related structures. For this reason, we favor the use of "maze" as a general term. | + | In our discussion, the terms "maze" and "labyrinth" are not used to distinguish two different categories of structure or image. In our view, such a distinction does not accurately reflect the history of Western consciousness of the maze as a single conceptual category, in particular our recent popular imaginary in which the environments of Theseus and Pac-Man are related structures. For this reason, we favor the use of "maze" as a general term. |
Nevertheless, it is important to clearly distinguish between unicursal and multicursal path-structures, as these often arise in different cultural contexts, have different uses, and produce different experiences while being used. We term these two types the "unicursal maze" (offering a single path along which walkers proceed, never making a choice about where to turn) and the "multicursal maze" (which invites wrong turns, has dead ends, and may even have multiple paths to the exit or center). | Nevertheless, it is important to clearly distinguish between unicursal and multicursal path-structures, as these often arise in different cultural contexts, have different uses, and produce different experiences while being used. We term these two types the "unicursal maze" (offering a single path along which walkers proceed, never making a choice about where to turn) and the "multicursal maze" (which invites wrong turns, has dead ends, and may even have multiple paths to the exit or center). | ||
