invisibly

I see your point Taka. But, on the other hand, the first sentence of the paragraph seems to suggest that what we don't see is dying, since we only know about it thanks to some sort of reflexion or thinking. In the end, I wonder if "invisibly" does not refer to the whole sentence, from "insects" onward.

Sextus

SextusI see your point Taka. But, on the other hand, the first sentence of the paragraph seems to suggest that what we don't see is dying, since we only know about it thanks to some sort of reflexion or thinking.

I see your point too, Sextus. In fact, I initially thought that way. But now I think that we do actually see dead insects sometimes-

I'd understand "invisibly" as "unbeknownst to us". They die & disintegrate "invisibly"

So, pieanne, do you agree with me that it refers to 'disintegrate (as they die)'?

I think it refers to the whole process, disintegrate as they die, no ( )

I think it's perfectly possible that "invisibly" refers to "disintegrating". But we must also bear in mind that even if we are able to see an insect dying, we are not able to see all insects dying. Hence, when we say that everything dies, we are just talking from an abstract point of view, based on induction, that is, based upon the cases we have seen.

Sextus

Because of the comma before invisibly, I believe it refers to the preceding phrase ('disintegration as they die'). Disintegration is more 'visible' than 'dying', don't you think? A plant that looks like it's dying, may just be starving for want of water. In such cases, what we see is a disintegration process (which, perhaps, is a phase of dying, but not death itself).

So, in that case, what we don't see is that they disintegrate when they are dying.

IMO, it refers to everything after 'dying ' and describes how they die, ie. steadily, by being eaten, dropping in their tracks; where, ie. around the earth; and their aftermath, ie.disintegration--and it's all taking place without our being aware of it. None of our senses perceives what is happening to them, which makes it abstract..

The more I ponder this, the more I see this phrase, 'Tons of insects are dying steadily...invisibly.

We don't see the tons that are disintegrating, we don't see the tons that are dying, we don't see the tons that are disintegrating as they die. The reality of the magnitude of their deaths is invisible to us.

Actually, I think it makes for an interesting conceptual art piece: an