Have we become more depressed because we have stopped memorising?
Education from ancient greece to early 20th century was largely a process of memorisation. Students were expected to learn, remember and use a large variety of cultural materials to furnish their thoughts, words and actions. Once finished with studies, students would continue to have poetry, literature, theatre, religion and history to draw on, wherever they were, when ruminating on particular struggles through their lives. Take Shakespeare, woven throughout his dialogues are poetic and cultural references and yet he was writing for a largely illiterate audience. These references may have helped people challenge their unhelpful thoughts.
I want to look at two things have occurred in the west, in the late 20th century in terms of their impact on mental health [1]. The first is the trend in education to avoid memorisation and the second is the development and refinement of various cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT).
Since the education revolution of the 1970s, students in the west have largely stopped memorising. With the rise of the internet in the 1990s, this process has all but ceased, even for adults who were brought up believing that memorisation was an important aspect of living one's life. Advocates of the extended mind might say that access to the internet or books makes memorisation obsolete. But, think of driving one's car across town, or rock climbing or trying to cook a meal whilst managing anxiety and/or depression. When individuals are alone with their thoughts, when they cannot plug into the internet, or even when they can plug in, they can't necessarily bring to mind a reference or activity that would calm them, offer advice or solace to guide them back to a rational state of mind. Depressed people often turn to social applications such as FB to get help or to feel better, and can spend quite a deal of time there without any progress in their mental state at all. Even if a person does open a relevant page, they can find it difficult to concentrate or absorb external information in a psychopathic state of mind. I claim that the mnemonic structures found in religious texts, poetry and so forth used to form a buffer against one's own negative thoughts and no longer plays such a central role in people's daily mental health management. That is, there is something different about memorising and it could be the key to fixing depression. But, I'm not advocating a return to religion in order to get benefits.
I argue that the most important thing about memorising is that it makes it easier to resolve negative affect. When content is memorised it becomes effective self-talk, springing effortlessly to mind. Lack of energy, poor problem solving and reduced cognitive function are features of depression. I compare this process to learning self-defence by practising moves over and over again without threat, so that in the event of an actual attack, reactions are swift and effective. This leads me to CBT.
CBT is a set of methods of challenging unhelpful thoughts. It has been empirically shown [1] to have a large impact on "unipolar depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, social phobia, post traumatic stress disorder, and childhood depressive and anxiety disorders" [2]. The techniques are varied and have been refined over decades, but the principles are clear. What improves depression is when patients actively acknowledge distorted thoughts, challenge them and/or observe them to lessen their impact. The process is very intense, confronting and requires discipline and perseverance to carry out. Part of the effort involved is absorbing and retaining the various 'reframes' of negative thought patterns into realistic, positive, yet believable statements--i.e. memorising them. Patients must begin by quite laboriously writing out their thoughts and analysing them. But, with time and practise those new thought patterns become dominant and reflexive. They have been memorised and are accessible, even during an 'attack'.
Much of the effectiveness of CBT is due to the benefit of memorisation, a skill known for thousands of years, but perhaps only recently rediscovered.
[1] I focus on the west in this case. But, clearly depression exists in Asian cultures and they have a very strong focus on memorisation. I should be very clear then in stating that I do not mean that memorising anything will help depression. But, that using memorisation with CBT (or perhaps religious texts, poetry etc…) is the combination required to ease symptoms.
[2] Butler, A.C., Chapman, J.E., Forman, E.M., Beck, A.T. (2006) The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses Clinical Psychology Review 26(1) 17-31.
I want to look at two things have occurred in the west, in the late 20th century in terms of their impact on mental health [1]. The first is the trend in education to avoid memorisation and the second is the development and refinement of various cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT).
Since the education revolution of the 1970s, students in the west have largely stopped memorising. With the rise of the internet in the 1990s, this process has all but ceased, even for adults who were brought up believing that memorisation was an important aspect of living one's life. Advocates of the extended mind might say that access to the internet or books makes memorisation obsolete. But, think of driving one's car across town, or rock climbing or trying to cook a meal whilst managing anxiety and/or depression. When individuals are alone with their thoughts, when they cannot plug into the internet, or even when they can plug in, they can't necessarily bring to mind a reference or activity that would calm them, offer advice or solace to guide them back to a rational state of mind. Depressed people often turn to social applications such as FB to get help or to feel better, and can spend quite a deal of time there without any progress in their mental state at all. Even if a person does open a relevant page, they can find it difficult to concentrate or absorb external information in a psychopathic state of mind. I claim that the mnemonic structures found in religious texts, poetry and so forth used to form a buffer against one's own negative thoughts and no longer plays such a central role in people's daily mental health management. That is, there is something different about memorising and it could be the key to fixing depression. But, I'm not advocating a return to religion in order to get benefits.
I argue that the most important thing about memorising is that it makes it easier to resolve negative affect. When content is memorised it becomes effective self-talk, springing effortlessly to mind. Lack of energy, poor problem solving and reduced cognitive function are features of depression. I compare this process to learning self-defence by practising moves over and over again without threat, so that in the event of an actual attack, reactions are swift and effective. This leads me to CBT.
CBT is a set of methods of challenging unhelpful thoughts. It has been empirically shown [1] to have a large impact on "unipolar depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, social phobia, post traumatic stress disorder, and childhood depressive and anxiety disorders" [2]. The techniques are varied and have been refined over decades, but the principles are clear. What improves depression is when patients actively acknowledge distorted thoughts, challenge them and/or observe them to lessen their impact. The process is very intense, confronting and requires discipline and perseverance to carry out. Part of the effort involved is absorbing and retaining the various 'reframes' of negative thought patterns into realistic, positive, yet believable statements--i.e. memorising them. Patients must begin by quite laboriously writing out their thoughts and analysing them. But, with time and practise those new thought patterns become dominant and reflexive. They have been memorised and are accessible, even during an 'attack'.
Much of the effectiveness of CBT is due to the benefit of memorisation, a skill known for thousands of years, but perhaps only recently rediscovered.
[1] I focus on the west in this case. But, clearly depression exists in Asian cultures and they have a very strong focus on memorisation. I should be very clear then in stating that I do not mean that memorising anything will help depression. But, that using memorisation with CBT (or perhaps religious texts, poetry etc…) is the combination required to ease symptoms.
[2] Butler, A.C., Chapman, J.E., Forman, E.M., Beck, A.T. (2006) The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses Clinical Psychology Review 26(1) 17-31.
*
Torture the Tool of Memory
In the recent Extended Mind debate, it can be easy to forget how long discussions of 'artificial' memory have been in existence. I don't normally quote great swathes of text, but this single sentence from 1200AD, expresses such a richness of content that I couldn't resist:
Three Capetian French scholars consulting an astrolabe, ca. AD 1200
I love the historical features of this account such as 'eye extractions'. We know that fear, pain and difficulty is more likely to cement long-term memories than mundane affairs. Still, it's rather shocking to consider torture as a tool of memory.
As I read this I think of Sterelny's account of how human civilization has shaped its environment to suit cognitive tasks larger than the mind of a single individual.
Three Capetian French scholars consulting an astrolabe, ca. AD 1200
I claim it as established that all books that have been written, or have existed in every region of the earth, all tools, records, inscriptions on wax tablets, epitaphs, all paintings, images, and sculptures; all crosses, of stone, iron, or wood set up at the intersections of two, three, or four roads, and those fixed on monastic houses, placed on top of churches, of houses of charity and bell towers; pillories, forks, gibbets, iron chains, and the swords of justice that are carried before princes for the sake of instilling fear; eye extractions, mutilations, and various tortures of bandits and forgers; all posts that are set up to mark out boundaries; all bell-peals, the clap of wooden tablets in Greek churches, the calls to prayer from the mosques of the Saracens; the blarings of horns and trumpets; all seals; the various dress and tokens of the religious and the dead; alphabets; the insignia of harbors, boats, travelers; inns, taverns, fisheries, nets, messengers, and various entertainers; knights' standards ,the insignia of arms, and armed men; Arabic numerals, astrolabes, clocks, and the seal on a papal bull; the marks and points on knucklebones, varieties of colors, memorial knots, supports for the feet, bandages for the fingers, the lead seals in the staves of penitents; the small notches that seneschals, administrators, and stewards make in sticks when they pay out or receive household expenses; the slaps that bishops give to adults during sacramental annointings; the blows given to boys to preserve the events of history in the memories; the nods and signals of lovers; the whispers of thieves; courteous gifts and small presents--all have been devised for the purpose of supporting the weakness of natural memory.
Boncompagno da Signa, "On Memory" in The Medieval Craft of Memoryedited by M. Carruthers and J.M. Ziolkowski. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p.111
I love the historical features of this account such as 'eye extractions'. We know that fear, pain and difficulty is more likely to cement long-term memories than mundane affairs. Still, it's rather shocking to consider torture as a tool of memory.
As I read this I think of Sterelny's account of how human civilization has shaped its environment to suit cognitive tasks larger than the mind of a single individual.
*
The Lethe River and the Value of Forgetting
The Waters of Lethe, Thomas Benjamin Kennington
...the river of Unmindfulness, whose water no vessel can hold; of this they were all obliged to drink a certain quantity, and those who were not saved by wisdom drank more than was necessary; and each one as he drank forgot all things. Plato
The Lethe River was one of the rivers of Hades* also known as the river of oblivion. The river functioned as a mind-wipe and was either positive or negative depending on what type of soul a person had. Heroes and virtuous folk drank from lethe on their way toElysium to be freed from the sorrows and suffering of a past life. Where as mediocre souls drank from the river Lethe as punishment so that they would not know who they were when they arrived to work, machine-like, for eternity in the Asphodel Meadows. Does this make forgetting a good or a bad thing? Wouldn't the heroes want to remember their feats of bravery and achievements even if it meant reflecting upon the hurt and difficulty of their lives? If total amnesia was great for heroes, why was it bad for regular souls? Did the heroes retain free will or some other attribute that enabled them to be fulfilled in their sojorn through the underworld?
Forgetting is generally frowned upon. We are told 'lest we forget' regarding World War I because remembering the actions of our ancestors is the right and respectful thing to do. Also, learning from the past is also a moral good in the sense that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it and cyclical mistakes are bad. The aim of life is to learn, retain and react differently as our experiences build and our capacities change. A good person builds their goodness by learning from their errors, not by forgetting their past and repeating mistakes. Punishments such as prison must be remembered to act as a deterant against future crime.
However, forgetting is encouraged when reminiscing becomes too painful or disabiling. Those in broken love affairs re-write the narrative of their relationship to bolster their ego and reconcile the outcome. Modern society encourages us to forget inductive evidence for stereotypes and concentrate on only the person we meet as an individual.
At some level the value of memory ties in with the problem of evil. The problem of evil struggles to explain why a omnibenevalent, omniscient and omnipotent God could allow suffering. One answer is to claim that suffering builds character. One might respond that building character does not demand the degree of suffering inflicted upon the average person in one lifetime. In the same way, forgetting might be valuable in the sense that it can reduce suffering, just as offered by the river Lethe for heroes and the virtuous.
*Other rivers of Hades included: Acheron (river of woe), Cocytus (river of lamentation), Phlegethon (river of fire), Styx (river of unbreakable oath or hate).
*
Metaphorysics
This is a poetic response I wrote in 2003 to a piece fo writing called "Principia Metaphysica" by Colin McGinn. It is a bit 'in-jokey', so reading the original may make it more fun to read. On the other hand, it might work alone. I'm not sure. Comments and criticisms definately encouraged. BTW, Colin's website seems to be causing trouble at the moment.
1. Philosophical poetry is a neglected genre
A neglected beast is either shot or nursed to health.
It depends how much glue we need.
What potential is in this sick creature?
"The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it."
Ah Bertrand.
What is the point really? What do I really think?
I'm having a tingling sensation in my concept area-by turns painful and pleasant.
2. Philosophy is a game.
A family resemblance of rules, politics and scoring
Sometimes we run naked across the field with 'fuck you' scrawled on our buttocks.
Bluntness and crudity.
Either way, you'll want to transcend the audience and perform in the spectacle.
Are the successful philosophers the ones on the team?
Or did they just court the right metaphor?
She was the most beautiful metaphor in the kingdom, with her long flowing stream of mental images and divine aesthetic.
Compare the starving artist and the starving philosopher.
Does the latter get published posthumously?
The natural history of philosophical thought is not without interest.
3. Apparently 'Metaphysics is possible'.
Possible?-Possible to come to clarity?
The coyness of our concepts, their reticence
The maddening glimpse
The marvel is that one can come to a clearer view.
The law that can be spoken of
Is not the constant law;
The laws are empty, yet they cannot be exhausted by use.
Deep, laws are like the ancestor of the myriad creatures.
Blunt the sharpness;
Untangle the knots;
Soften the glare
Does this method create a vista or a shadow?
The imprecision of a formulation does not always count against it.
Is anyone under the blankets hoping the boogey man will go away?
Tomorrow morning you will wake up and cold argument will shine in through the window.
Natural laws constitute objects but not the logic of the world.
Do poems call the intellectual bluff?
You've gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run.
Or will this yield a breakthrough into our own concepts?
If philosophy is chastening, then poetry must be a fragmented fertility dance.
Stogid, 'straight-laced' stuff. Here comes the humor.
4. A law walked into a bar and ordered a dirty martini, the bartender felt unnecessary.
5. Stream of consciousness, rough drafts.
Does the polish of submission strip away good brain excreta?
Or slough off the dead cells of ideas?
Will the nature of laws manifest through the inkblot?
Sail a different tack
Explore the third side of the triangle.
The concept of a disposition has proved a useful one to hide behind
Laws?-Well, they're merely dispositions to have certain effects
Mental states?-dispositions to behavior.
Philosophy is hiding behind things and failing to achieve what we want.
Is poetry a sort of desire to be open and frank about how little we know?
Or an attempt to confront our own ways to avoid really answering the questions.
It has never been settled what form an illuminating philosophical account should take.
A good account of a concept should make it seem vital-indispensable and alive.
Touching philosophical nerves.
Truth is a tedious view out the window, with clouds, trees and powerlines.
It is a soft scene with infinite detail, only the sparrow flying past takes our attention. Why?-It is alive, it's swoops, it changes.
Living things are stimulating like that. Are concepts?
We are short-attention span children: Where are the scene relief clowns and funny makeup?
Roll up! Roll up!
Coming soon, The Spectacular Isolated Particular!
It can be thrilling to gain insight into one's own concepts, strangely enough
Occam's razor should excite the senses.
6. Philosophical advance often consists in a slight change of emphasis:
The wind of analytic philosophy and the sun of poetry had a bet on who was the most powerful.
They saw reality standing on a hill wearing a metaphor on top of the laws of nature.
The wind and the sun agreed that whomever could get reality to give up her metaphor would be the most powerful.
Analytic philosophy blew and blew on reality and she wrapped the metaphor tighter and tighter around her.
Eventually the wind gave up and the sun of poetry began to shine. The warmth of the sun made reality want to take off all her metaphors and she revealed the laws of nature in all their glory.
Force versus suggestion?
The psychoanalysis of philosophical poetry: penis or breast?
Thrust out the bullet from the gun,
And kill this poor neglected creature?
Or clutch it tenderly to the bosom of thought,
And nurse it back to health?
7. Does metaphysics lend itself to this kind of writing?
Is there a seething ontology beneath metaphor?
We are great armchair explorers on a dangerous path of conceptual analysis.
Analytic philosophy traveling upon a conceptual desert.
Our camels parched and our hope shot to the wind.
Yet, like a turing machine we'll never stop our tedious recursion.
Unless you pick us up and give us another program.
Is that the point of poetry?--Think outside the box?
Don't look know, you've ordered that late-night self-help tape.
Climb inside your left hemisphere.
'You-too-can-tap-your-vast-unconscious-p
Is philosophy a creative art?
A palette of metaphors set against the sunset of ideas.
There might be techniques to learn.
How to bring three dimensions to two.
What do we do with those of us who cannot draw a straight line?
There are moments when you seem to have concepts in your sights, and moments when they won't stay still.
One would think concepts would either be clear or not, but they seem to fade in and out of clarity
Should we teach creative philosophy alongside logic 101?
From each according to his ability, and to each according to his need.
Is metaphor more powerful than logic?
Are we in danger of falling for false idols: rhetoric, charisma and charm?
Rhetoric, the great seducer.
Logic, the virgin bride of Christ.
Slavishly devoted to the rules
Recursion
Recursion.
8. Aristotle said that poetry is a mode of imitation.
The means is rhythm, melody and verse.
Poetry presents objects as necessarily good or bad.
It is natural for humans to delight in imitation
The truth of this is shown by experience: though the objects themselves may be painful to see, we delight to view the most realistic representations of them in art.
Objects include: the lowest form of animal, dead bodies and the laws of nature (?)
Fear of certain concepts is characteristic of philosophy; we need to conquer this fear.
The poet's function is to describe, not the thing that has happened, but a kind of thing that might happen.
That is, what is possible as being probable or necessary.
9. Here I should insert something about the importance of play in philosophical thinking
Work is the nitty-gritty, the sighing and clarification, the distinctions, exclusions, the rigour…mortis.
Play is the superficial, the exploration, the adventure and the lark.
Swim and bask in your philosophy, splash about for no reason but that it feels good.
Perhaps we should spend a decent part of our career in the kiddie pool?
All work and no play makes Jerry a dull boy.
Can there be rules to play?
Is it like improvisation in music?
There are scales and keys to slide around.
Some people are certainly good.
We can all agree with that.
What about children in the sandbox?
Is it alright for Jimmy to keep building amorphous sand-creatures and then destroying them with his fists?
Is there an 'ought' to play?
If play is important, then it must be doing some work.
For example, providing insights, brainstorming etc…
If it is work, then it can't be play.
Therefore, play isn't play.
Let's rile people up
PETA justifies extreme (possibly irrational) acts against animal violence because no vegetarian ever quit because some group of people threw paint on a fur coat.
On the other hand, some carnatarian might catch the news headline and begin to question.
Similarly, the chief characteristic of aphorisms is their utter disregard for falsehood.
Those who know the truth won't flinch and those who didn't care, might begin to question.
We could spur them to action, get them off the couch!
There is a lot of wishful thinking in philosophy
10. We've got to keep people's attention
Poetry is a two-place relation.
Without an audience it is nothing
There is no meaning without interpretation
The more interpretation, the more meaning
A chorus of responses
Challenging discord, sublime harmony
Is meaning intrinsic to analytic work?
If Two Dogmas fell in the woods, and no one was around to hear them, would they still make a sound?
Discuss.
1. Philosophical poetry is a neglected genre
A neglected beast is either shot or nursed to health.
It depends how much glue we need.
What potential is in this sick creature?
"The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it."
Ah Bertrand.
What is the point really? What do I really think?
I'm having a tingling sensation in my concept area-by turns painful and pleasant.
2. Philosophy is a game.
A family resemblance of rules, politics and scoring
Sometimes we run naked across the field with 'fuck you' scrawled on our buttocks.
Bluntness and crudity.
Either way, you'll want to transcend the audience and perform in the spectacle.
Are the successful philosophers the ones on the team?
Or did they just court the right metaphor?
She was the most beautiful metaphor in the kingdom, with her long flowing stream of mental images and divine aesthetic.
Compare the starving artist and the starving philosopher.
Does the latter get published posthumously?
The natural history of philosophical thought is not without interest.
3. Apparently 'Metaphysics is possible'.
Possible?-Possible to come to clarity?
The coyness of our concepts, their reticence
The maddening glimpse
The marvel is that one can come to a clearer view.
The law that can be spoken of
Is not the constant law;
The laws are empty, yet they cannot be exhausted by use.
Deep, laws are like the ancestor of the myriad creatures.
Blunt the sharpness;
Untangle the knots;
Soften the glare
Does this method create a vista or a shadow?
The imprecision of a formulation does not always count against it.
Is anyone under the blankets hoping the boogey man will go away?
Tomorrow morning you will wake up and cold argument will shine in through the window.
Natural laws constitute objects but not the logic of the world.
Do poems call the intellectual bluff?
You've gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run.
Or will this yield a breakthrough into our own concepts?
If philosophy is chastening, then poetry must be a fragmented fertility dance.
Stogid, 'straight-laced' stuff. Here comes the humor.
4. A law walked into a bar and ordered a dirty martini, the bartender felt unnecessary.
5. Stream of consciousness, rough drafts.
Does the polish of submission strip away good brain excreta?
Or slough off the dead cells of ideas?
Will the nature of laws manifest through the inkblot?
Sail a different tack
Explore the third side of the triangle.
The concept of a disposition has proved a useful one to hide behind
Laws?-Well, they're merely dispositions to have certain effects
Mental states?-dispositions to behavior.
Philosophy is hiding behind things and failing to achieve what we want.
Is poetry a sort of desire to be open and frank about how little we know?
Or an attempt to confront our own ways to avoid really answering the questions.
It has never been settled what form an illuminating philosophical account should take.
A good account of a concept should make it seem vital-indispensable and alive.
Touching philosophical nerves.
Truth is a tedious view out the window, with clouds, trees and powerlines.
It is a soft scene with infinite detail, only the sparrow flying past takes our attention. Why?-It is alive, it's swoops, it changes.
Living things are stimulating like that. Are concepts?
We are short-attention span children: Where are the scene relief clowns and funny makeup?
Roll up! Roll up!
Coming soon, The Spectacular Isolated Particular!
It can be thrilling to gain insight into one's own concepts, strangely enough
Occam's razor should excite the senses.
6. Philosophical advance often consists in a slight change of emphasis:
The wind of analytic philosophy and the sun of poetry had a bet on who was the most powerful.
They saw reality standing on a hill wearing a metaphor on top of the laws of nature.
The wind and the sun agreed that whomever could get reality to give up her metaphor would be the most powerful.
Analytic philosophy blew and blew on reality and she wrapped the metaphor tighter and tighter around her.
Eventually the wind gave up and the sun of poetry began to shine. The warmth of the sun made reality want to take off all her metaphors and she revealed the laws of nature in all their glory.
Force versus suggestion?
The psychoanalysis of philosophical poetry: penis or breast?
Thrust out the bullet from the gun,
And kill this poor neglected creature?
Or clutch it tenderly to the bosom of thought,
And nurse it back to health?
7. Does metaphysics lend itself to this kind of writing?
Is there a seething ontology beneath metaphor?
We are great armchair explorers on a dangerous path of conceptual analysis.
Analytic philosophy traveling upon a conceptual desert.
Our camels parched and our hope shot to the wind.
Yet, like a turing machine we'll never stop our tedious recursion.
Unless you pick us up and give us another program.
Is that the point of poetry?--Think outside the box?
Don't look know, you've ordered that late-night self-help tape.
Climb inside your left hemisphere.
'You-too-can-tap-your-vast-unconscious-p
Is philosophy a creative art?
A palette of metaphors set against the sunset of ideas.
There might be techniques to learn.
How to bring three dimensions to two.
What do we do with those of us who cannot draw a straight line?
There are moments when you seem to have concepts in your sights, and moments when they won't stay still.
One would think concepts would either be clear or not, but they seem to fade in and out of clarity
Should we teach creative philosophy alongside logic 101?
From each according to his ability, and to each according to his need.
Is metaphor more powerful than logic?
Are we in danger of falling for false idols: rhetoric, charisma and charm?
Rhetoric, the great seducer.
Logic, the virgin bride of Christ.
Slavishly devoted to the rules
Recursion
Recursion.
8. Aristotle said that poetry is a mode of imitation.
The means is rhythm, melody and verse.
Poetry presents objects as necessarily good or bad.
It is natural for humans to delight in imitation
The truth of this is shown by experience: though the objects themselves may be painful to see, we delight to view the most realistic representations of them in art.
Objects include: the lowest form of animal, dead bodies and the laws of nature (?)
Fear of certain concepts is characteristic of philosophy; we need to conquer this fear.
The poet's function is to describe, not the thing that has happened, but a kind of thing that might happen.
That is, what is possible as being probable or necessary.
9. Here I should insert something about the importance of play in philosophical thinking
Work is the nitty-gritty, the sighing and clarification, the distinctions, exclusions, the rigour…mortis.
Play is the superficial, the exploration, the adventure and the lark.
Swim and bask in your philosophy, splash about for no reason but that it feels good.
Perhaps we should spend a decent part of our career in the kiddie pool?
All work and no play makes Jerry a dull boy.
Can there be rules to play?
Is it like improvisation in music?
There are scales and keys to slide around.
Some people are certainly good.
We can all agree with that.
What about children in the sandbox?
Is it alright for Jimmy to keep building amorphous sand-creatures and then destroying them with his fists?
Is there an 'ought' to play?
If play is important, then it must be doing some work.
For example, providing insights, brainstorming etc…
If it is work, then it can't be play.
Therefore, play isn't play.
Let's rile people up
PETA justifies extreme (possibly irrational) acts against animal violence because no vegetarian ever quit because some group of people threw paint on a fur coat.
On the other hand, some carnatarian might catch the news headline and begin to question.
Similarly, the chief characteristic of aphorisms is their utter disregard for falsehood.
Those who know the truth won't flinch and those who didn't care, might begin to question.
We could spur them to action, get them off the couch!
There is a lot of wishful thinking in philosophy
10. We've got to keep people's attention
Poetry is a two-place relation.
Without an audience it is nothing
There is no meaning without interpretation
The more interpretation, the more meaning
A chorus of responses
Challenging discord, sublime harmony
Is meaning intrinsic to analytic work?
If Two Dogmas fell in the woods, and no one was around to hear them, would they still make a sound?
Discuss.
BIO
Please assume ... that there is in our souls a block of wax, in one case larger, in another smaller, in one case the wax is purer, in another more impure and harder, in some cases softer, and in some of proper quality...Let us, then, say that this is the gift of Memory, the mother of the Muses, and that whenever we wish to remember anything we see or hear or think of in our own minds, we hold this wax under the perceptions and thoughts and imprint them upon it, just as we make impressions from seal rings; and whatever is imprinted we remember and know as long as its image lasts, but whatever is rubbed out or cannot be imprinted we forget and do not know."I am a PhD candidate in philosophy and cognitive science at Rutgers University and this is a journal for research and commentary on my dissertation on memory. My journal's name comes from Mnemosyne (the mother of the muses) and gnosis. Memory is at the core of cognition. The more we understand memory, the more we understand ourselves.
Socrates to Theaetetus. Plato, Theaetetus 191d
