Problems of Philosophy: Learning to Learn
Here we are, the Self and the not-Self. Last semester Dr. Mashburn had me write about this topic (we read the last chapter of Russell's book in class), and my submission was truly brilliant. Now, Dr. Mashburn never gave it back and I can't for the life of me remember what I wrote about, but I know for certain that it must have been an earth-shaking revelation. Ignore everything we read about "notoriously fallacious" memory and just go with me on this one.
Moving past that, what exactly is meant by the Self and the not-Self? The first time we see the phrase Russell is saying, “All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the Self,” so we know immediately that the Self must be your mind. The mind can only grow, or enlarge, when it takes in knowledge. I feel like the Self doesn't include the body here, because the body doesn't need knowledge to grow; a baby raised while being locked in a secluded place and never spoken to will certainly grow up physically, but mentally it will never learn to speak or reason like a regular human who can take in knowledge from the world. Besides, our bodies might be a nonexistent dream anyway. For all we know, we're just sleeping brains floating in a pod in some laboratory.
Then we have the not-Self. The Self is enlarged when we absorb knowledge, and the first time the not-Self is mentioned it is said that "through its greatness the boundaries of the Self are enlarged; through the infinity of the universe the mind which contemplates it achieves some share in infinity.” The not-Self, then, is everything that isn't your mind. Contemplating these things you don't know is what helps you learn, what makes your Self grow. Of course, Russell notes that you can't force the not-Self to change and conform to how you want to view the universe on the grounds that doing so isn't how you get your mind to grow. True learning isn’t just confirming what you already believe. It often requires you to change your beliefs.
For all the things he's talked about in this book that I thought were less than worthwhile, this last section is really getting to me. Russell is literally teaching us how to learn.
Yes, this extra credit blog doubles as a condensed version of my short paper. Happy explicating, pod brains!
P.S. Never figured out if I need to make comments on an extra credit blog where only two people might post, but I commented on Zelda and Will's posts anyway.
Moving past that, what exactly is meant by the Self and the not-Self? The first time we see the phrase Russell is saying, “All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the Self,” so we know immediately that the Self must be your mind. The mind can only grow, or enlarge, when it takes in knowledge. I feel like the Self doesn't include the body here, because the body doesn't need knowledge to grow; a baby raised while being locked in a secluded place and never spoken to will certainly grow up physically, but mentally it will never learn to speak or reason like a regular human who can take in knowledge from the world. Besides, our bodies might be a nonexistent dream anyway. For all we know, we're just sleeping brains floating in a pod in some laboratory.
Then we have the not-Self. The Self is enlarged when we absorb knowledge, and the first time the not-Self is mentioned it is said that "through its greatness the boundaries of the Self are enlarged; through the infinity of the universe the mind which contemplates it achieves some share in infinity.” The not-Self, then, is everything that isn't your mind. Contemplating these things you don't know is what helps you learn, what makes your Self grow. Of course, Russell notes that you can't force the not-Self to change and conform to how you want to view the universe on the grounds that doing so isn't how you get your mind to grow. True learning isn’t just confirming what you already believe. It often requires you to change your beliefs.
For all the things he's talked about in this book that I thought were less than worthwhile, this last section is really getting to me. Russell is literally teaching us how to learn.
Yes, this extra credit blog doubles as a condensed version of my short paper. Happy explicating, pod brains!
P.S. Never figured out if I need to make comments on an extra credit blog where only two people might post, but I commented on Zelda and Will's posts anyway.
Wow, I never thought of it that way! You're the best Will, and good luck with that paper!
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