Have you noticed a difference in your thought process when reading and listening? Recent research suggests there is indeed a difference. We tend to think more intuitively, more automatically when we listen to something and more deliberately and analytically when we read something. While it is not entirely clear why this is so, one possible … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Thinking When Reading and Listening
Spreading the Word: East-West Narrative
The idea that there are inherent differences in how people think between the Western and Eastern cultures is widespread and popular. However, as recent research in cross-cultural psychology clearly shows, it is also a sweeping oversimplification. In the words of one of the researchers, "We are much more diverse – but, at the same time, … Continue reading Spreading the Word: East-West Narrative
Spreading the Word: Enter Animal Dreamworld
If we think that our dreamworlds are strange and incomprehensible, what can we say about the dreams of other, non-human animals? There is some fascinating research done in this area. It can give us a glimpse of the richness and variety of perceptions that are beyond our wildest dreams (pun intended). Have a look at … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Enter Animal Dreamworld
Where Are You From?
What appears as a straightforward question contains a lot of implicit assumptions. One of those close to the surface is, for example, the idea that 'being from somewhere' means having been born and grown up there. What if a person was born in one place, moved somewhere else before they could even remember themselves, then … Continue reading Where Are You From?
Spreading the Word: Emotional Decomposition
Let's do a thought experiment. What would happen if we interpreted our emotional, existential, identity crises as analogous to the physical and chemical process of decomposition? Could the rawness of our emotions and thoughts during these times be viewed as the raw material that we will eventually process into a new, transformed self? Today I … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Emotional Decomposition
Spreading the Word: Anger and Female Rage
Assertive self-expression, anger, rage, and various forms of roughness are traditionally associated with maleness. Even if they scare us or make us uncomfortable, they are perceived and experienced as masculine qualities. It is so deeply rooted in so many cultures that we do not notice its presence. To test it, see what comes to your … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Anger and Female Rage
Dispatch From Scotland: Ideas as Legacy
While travelling through Scotland, I found several inspiring and thought-provoking ideas that met me on the walls of museums or the very pavement of the streets I walked. Why not? Our environment can be as mind-broadening as the literature we read. Here are two ideas that both centre around legacy. Printed on a wall of … Continue reading Dispatch From Scotland: Ideas as Legacy
Spreading the Word: Living in a Body
Can a walk be a dangerous thing? What can our bodies do? What do they do? These and other questions come up in the discussion between philosopher Judith Butler and writer, artist and activist Sunaura Taylor as they take a stroll through San Francisco, captured in a short video. In the case of this particular … Continue reading Spreading the Word: Living in a Body
How to Understand Identity
What is your identity? When someone asks you who you are, what are the first things that come to your mind? Are they your identity? Thinking about our identities is crucial for people, and we do it many times in our lives. It is unsurprising that throughout history, philosophers have engaged with the question of identity … Continue reading How to Understand Identity
Freedom vs Liberation
What is the difference between freedom and liberation? Is it the same to be free and to be liberated? For example, if I am at liberty to go where and do what I please, does it follow I am free? Or, more precisely, that I feel free? I do not think so. As philosophers Frantz … Continue reading Freedom vs Liberation
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