Unmaking Sense

Our propensity to be more interested in the fortunes of our compatriots, even naturalised compatriots, demands an explanation. Is it merely primal tribalism or is there more to it?

We consider why a an absolutely perfect copy of a painting down to the atoms of paint and canvas is worth less in both aesthetic and financial terms than the original. What does this tell us about creativity? Or information?

Where do the ideas we write down, speak about, paint, sculpt and compose come from? Not where we usually think.

Some random thoughts on politics and society in the light of ontological inversion.

Why? Endless chains of questions without final answers. Russian dolls and leaves on trees. True happiness as other-centred. General Elections and tides in the electorate’s minds. Happy Independence Day!

In an unlikely departure as it might seem from our usual philosophical discussions, we turn to the performance of the England Men’s football team in Euro 24 as an example of “inside first outside second”.
We use this desultory performance as an example in other words of putting the individual first and the team second. One could scarcely have a more graphic example. It’s an illustration of the debilitating effects of forgetting the Alf Ramsay principle of “running off the hall”; of making chains of great passes possible by working hard.
The problem in essence is that they think that the person holding the ball is the one who makes the play when it is in fact the team as a whole that has to position itself in such a way as to optimise that player’s opportunities to make the most of the ball that he has at the time. In a nutshell they need to transfer their thinking from “inside first” - individual first - “outside second” - team 2nd - to “outside first” - team first - “inside second” - individual second. Then they might get somewhere; otherwise they won’t. 

We consider ways in which the holographic principle from physics that we talked about quite a lot in series 11 can illuminate the way in which we use and abuse language. In particular, we consider the relationship between the society that is the source of our language and the consciousness that knows itself through language. This affords another example of the ontological inversion we have been talking about in terms of inside second outside first. 

The controlling influences of social, religious and political practices potentially  enslave us to the things they teach as fact. If they also try to dissuade us from thinking, we are doubly disadvantaged. So if society makes us who we are, how do we change? If we abandon our society, do we lose ourselves? Pivotal moments, points and reconsiderations as keys to changes of mind.

Why process-driven education offers more long-term promise than outcome-based education.

We need both/and not either/or in education as in life.