On the Boundaries

In this second post on “the mind” I’ll turn, as promised, to some of my personal experiences of trying to know my own mind— some examples of what ideas, experiences, beliefs have occupied it, and some of the later processes of learning about how it works. So, first, The Whats: ·       Although my memories of…

Having outlined what I have chosen to call a “common sense” approach to this ubiquitous concept, let me be clear that I am not denigrating other possible approaches. I have simply chosen to outline a way forward avoiding technical, ambiguous, vague, cryptic, or just “fuzzy” terms and staying with the familiar, “common” terms we tend…

To begin this introduction to my own “common sense” approach to this subject, let me suggest at the outset that it involves two questions: What is it we are to know, and How are we to know it? So this issue turns on What and How! If one turns to Socrates, the issue was connected…

As promised at the conclusion of the first post, I will jump back to “the beginning” and explore—helpfully, I hope, if not fully or extensively–where the phrase and the notion, “know thyself,” came from and something of its history.  As I have been guilty of doing before, let me preview “the conclusion of the matter”…

While it will soon be obvious that I won’t be able to “cover the waterfront” on this topic, I’ll do my best to see what’s going on under a few of the “umbrellas” scattered along the beach.—and try to see that you don’t get hit by a “flying metaphor!” In each case, I will attempt…

As indicated at the close of the previous post, these final brief comments address two concluding items. The first has to do with some social benefits of sympathy and, especially, empathy. And here I offer, without further aside, three quotations. The first one is from Simon Baron-Cohen: “Empathy is vital for a healthy democracy, it…

Having now walked through the highlights of the various—and, in my judgment—the most appropriate definitions and usages of these terms, as well as a brief excursion into the crucial importance of sincerity in their expression, we turn now to the effects that those expressions may have on those who receive them as well as those…

The first post explored the definitions and usages of the two terms, noting the differences in how they are sometimes defined and employed, with empathy earning from one writer the characterization, “squishy,” although I did try to establish my own understanding and appropriate uses of the terms.  That said, we turn now to the importance…

            It’s probably fair to assume that some who might stumble across this topic may have opened this first post, motivated primarily by idle curiosity, as in, “why would anybody take the time to write about such an admittedly ‘fuzzy,’ but also ‘flimsy,’ topic?” It’s a fair question, at least on the surface. And the…

            Those of you who have faithfully stayed with me through the first three posts on this subject, have been subjected to some version of the introductory paragraph with each post, so enough is enough. If you are just now joining us, welcome, but I would encourage you to go back to the earlier posts…