by Rick Lewis
http://philosophynow.org/issues/100/A_Century_Not_Out
A Century Not Out
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Greylorn Ell
- Posts: 892
- Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:13 pm
- Location: SE Arizona
Re: A Century Not Out
Rick,
You may have missed the function of language that is of most importance to real or wannabe philosophers.
The deep mind, the component of us that is conscious and which many believe to transcend the body, operates with concepts, not linguistic details.
There have been many occasions in your life when you suddenly, spontaneously acquired a concept. Given your history these events will have taken at least two distinct forms:
1. The sudden comprehension of ideas described in physics textbooks, a comprehension that transcends language, but which employed language to get your mind focused on the pertinent idea.
2. The instantaneous appearance in your mind of an idea, a completely new concept that you had not previously known.
The arrival of a new idea in your conscious mind comes, you will have noticed, without language. It is simply there, fully formed in an instant, completely understood.
However to fix such an idea in your time-dependent working mind you must install it in your brain. This requires language. The little voice in your head might provide the vehicle. Or, if the new idea appears during conversation, it can be reinforced via conversation. Even better, you'll have written it down. For ideas that appear unbidden in the midst of sleep, this is oft the only way that they can be retained.
You will have experienced ideas which you recognized as worthwhile, but that you failed to record, certain that you could never lose such an insight. And they were lost. Perhaps, determined not to let that happen again, you started a periodical devoted to the expression and retention of concepts. Or, maybe you just wanted to make a few easy pounds.
Whatever, good work!