Is language fundamental to our understanding and interpretation of experiences? Can something be experienced as meaningful without our participation in a language-world and its structures of meaning? Would we even consider something an experience if we couldn't make sense (i.e., create a meaningful unity relying on meaning structures we inhabit) of that "something" we encountered? …
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Big cities offer more opportunities than smaller ones. It is such a familiar statement that it feels almost empty. Yet, we tend to repeat the things best known to us. That is how habits form and are reinforced - repetition. Patterns of thought. Everyday motions that are second nature to us are born out of …
What connects art, science, education, and nature? Watch this video where a visual artist, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and an educator discuss what I would call the human experience. Perhaps unsurprisingly, communication in its various forms is at the heart of our meaning-making. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R11FofCPoQ4 Keeping up the "Spreading the Word" tradition, I hope to …
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A quote on understanding as a way of creating meaning, from German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer's book, Truth and Method.
When we experience the world and interpret its meaning, it is not so much "I'll believe it when I see it", it is rather "I will see it if I believe it". And - in the way that I believe it to be. Curious? Then you might be interested in this short BBC Ideas video: …
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Why is it much more important to understand than to know? Why are all the 'why' questions significant, and how an understanding of reasons shapes our actions? I found these two articles that I would like to share with you today: on understanding and on 'why'. In each article, the authors offer their take on …
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