display all the ideas for this combination of texts
3 ideas
3482 | Perception is a function of expectation [Searle] |
Full Idea: Psychologists have a lot of evidence to show that perception is a function of expectation. | |
From: John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 6.I.7) |
7544 | Many people imagine that to experience is to understand [Goethe] |
Full Idea: There are many people who imagine that what they experience they also understand. | |
From: Wolfgang von Goethe (Maxims and Reflections [1825], 889) | |
A reaction: This should be posted over the arrivals gate of every international airport, for returning holiday-makers. It seems to place Goethe on the rationalist side of the debate with empiricism. It is hard to explain 'understanding' in Humean terms. |
3493 | Memory is mainly a guide for current performance [Searle] |
Full Idea: We should think of memory as a mechanism for generating current performance, including conscious thoughts and actions, on the basis of past experience. | |
From: John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 8.III) | |
A reaction: This seems to be falling into the fallacy of causal and functional theories, which Searle normally dislikes. If memory serves to aid current performance, that doesn't say what memory IS, any more than a foot is defined by walking. |