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Single Idea 22977
[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 4. Memory
]
Full Idea
I can distinguish the scent of lilies from that of violets, even though there is no scent at all in my nostrils.
Gist of Idea
I can distinguish different smells even when I am not experiencing them
Source
Augustine (Confessions [c.398], X.08)
Book Ref
Augustine: 'Confessions', ed/tr. Pine-Coffin,R.S. [Penguin 1961], p.214
A Reaction
Augustine has a nice introspective account of how we experience memory, and identifies lots of puzzling features. I know I can identify the smell of vinegar, but I can't bring it to mind, the way I can the appearance of roses.
The
33 ideas
from Augustine
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16702
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All things are in the present time to God
[Augustine]
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3912
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I must exist in order to be mistaken, so that even if I am mistaken, I can't be wrong about my own existence
[Augustine]
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6683
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The contact of spirit and body is utterly amazing, and incomprehensible
[Augustine]
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22887
|
If God existed before creation, why would a perfect being desire to change things?
[Augustine, by Bardon]
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22888
|
To be aware of time it can only exist in the mind, as memory or anticipation
[Augustine, by Bardon]
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22976
|
Memories are preserved separately, according to category
[Augustine]
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22978
|
Memory is so vast that I cannot recognise it as part of my mind
[Augustine]
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22977
|
I can distinguish different smells even when I am not experiencing them
[Augustine]
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22979
|
Three main questions seem to be whether a thing is, what it is, and what sort it is
[Augustine]
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22980
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Memory contains innumerable principles of maths, as well as past sense experiences
[Augustine]
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22983
|
We would avoid remembering sorrow or fear if that triggered the emotions afresh
[Augustine]
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22982
|
Why does joy in my mind make me happy, but joy in my memory doesn't?
[Augustine]
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22981
|
Mind and memory are the same, as shown in 'bear it in mind' or 'it slipped from mind'
[Augustine]
|
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22984
|
Without memory I could not even speak of myself
[Augustine]
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22985
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Everyone wants happiness
[Augustine]
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5976
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If God is outside time in eternity, can He hear prayers?
[Augustine]
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5977
|
Heaven and earth must be created, because they are subject to change
[Augustine]
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5979
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If the past is no longer, and the future is not yet, how can they exist?
[Augustine]
|
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5978
|
I know what time is, until someone asks me to explain it
[Augustine]
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5981
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The whole of the current year is not present, so how can it exist?
[Augustine]
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5980
|
How can ten days ahead be a short time, if it doesn't exist?
[Augustine]
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5982
|
If the future does not exist, how can prophets see it?
[Augustine]
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5983
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I disagree with the idea that time is nothing but cosmic movement
[Augustine]
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5984
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Maybe time is an extension of the mind
[Augustine]
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16588
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I prefer a lack of form to mean non-existence, than to think of some quasi-existence
[Augustine]
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4348
|
Love, and do what you will
[Augustine]
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22117
|
Our minds grasp reality by direct illumination (rather than abstraction from experience)
[Augustine, by Matthews]
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22167
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Our images of bodies are not produced by the bodies, but by our own minds
[Augustine, by Aquinas]
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22118
|
Augustine created the modern concept of the will
[Augustine, by Matthews]
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7821
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Pagans produced three hundred definitions of the highest good
[Augustine, by Grayling]
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22119
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Augustine said (unusually) that 'ought' does not imply 'can'
[Augustine, by Matthews]
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22116
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Augustine identified Donatism, Pelagianism and Manicheism as the main heresies
[Augustine, by Matthews]
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19338
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Augustine said evil does not really exist, and evil is a limitation in goodness
[Augustine, by Perkins]
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