Here be only an incomplete list of gravitational metaphors, supporting the arguments in [[10 Bias, or Falling into Place]]. In this chapter I looked at how both reason and intuition, which are often diametrically opposed in discussions of how the mind does what the mind does, are subject to the same gravitational constraints, and therefore functionally very similar. These functions reveal themselves in so many of our metaphors: as gradient descent, bias and kernels in the mathematical imaginary of machine learning, to most philosophical arguments. We can have fundamental bearing on the “weighing” of arguments, because considerations have “gravity” which depend on the “depths” of thought: as profound and deep versus shallow or superficial thinking. We have “higher” and “lower” truths. We are “inclined” to think, we “ascend” or “rise” to the occasion through “bottom-up” or “top-down” approaches. Sometimes we “lower” our expectations. We also “anchor” or “uproot” our beliefs, stand on “solid” or “shaky foundations,” our claims “hang together” but also “fall apart” or “topple” others, “stabilizing” or “destabilizing” “erected” architectures. Ideas have “pull;” “attraction,” and “momentum”. And being _pensive_, or in thoughtful contemplation, stems from the Latin _pensare_, originally related to weighing and hanging. All metaphors grounded in gravitation refining the function(s) of mind, through the refinement of concepts.
Gradient descent
Bias
Kernel
Vector
Sink
Fundament
Argument weighing
Lightweight vs. heavyweight
Gravity of considerations
Depths of thought
Profound/deep vs. shallow/superficial
Higher and lower truths
Inclinations to think
Ascending/rising
Bottom-up/top-down
Lower and higher expectations
Anchor/uproot beliefs
Solid/shaky foundations
Hang together
Fall apart/topple
Stabilize/destabilize
Erected architectures
Seat (of reason)
Pull, attraction, momentum
Pensive/weighing/hanging
Leaning toward, tilting
Tipping point, tipping the scales
Burden of proof
Levity vs. gravity
Grounded vs. ungrounded
Buoyant ideas that float vs. sink
Suspended judgment
Prop up, buttress, shore up (arguments)
Crumble, collapse, cave in
Bedrock principles
Cornerstone, keystone concepts
scaffolding of thought
Building blocks
Center of gravity
Orbit around (central ideas)
Gravitational pull
Dense vs. light reasoning
Counterweight, counterbalance
Balanced argument,
Or: to lose one's balance
Hang by a thread
Pendulum swing
Support
Unearth
Excavate
etc.
(there are many more and LLMs have not yet shown me their power in finding them. Goes to show: there are estimations that remain conditioned upon the human body.)
 
 
 
 
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[[Bergson]], [[Metaphor]], [[Melody]], [[Music]], [[Intuition]]
"Commentators appear to assume that Bergson’s philosophy is not literally
based on music or harmonics; however, in The Creative Mind, [[Bergson]]’s opening
words are:
‘What philosophy has lacked most of all is precision (‘Introduction I’, in
C.M., p.11), so if precision is his primary concern, why would he say that duration or
the inner life “is that very melody” (‘Introduction I’, in C.M., p.19), or that our
personality is “precisely the continuous melody of our inner life” (‘The Perception of Change’, C.M., p.149) if he intended the melody to be taken metaphorically? For
Bergson intuition, which is durational, pre-exists intellect which thinks in terms of
space. The intellect has to use spatial metaphors to explain that which is experienced immediately through intuition; however, as Harris notes, Bergson struggles to explain duration using spatial metaphors:
Bergson proposes one explanatory metaphor for duration after another, only to
find them inadequate, if not deceptive. In essence, we find that Bergson lacks
any notion of “space” or spatial metaphors which would accommodate the
definitive characteristics of his concept of multiplicity. The chief impasse lies in
that fact that qualitative or continuous multiplicity entails “reciprocal
penetration,” a tangled weave of sorts, and Bergson could not find a visual or
spatial analogue because he equated space in general with the Euclidean space
of common sense. (Harris, 2004, p.102)"