Heart-thought

When I was young and studying philosophy at Edinburgh University I remember becoming excited about the figurative use of prepositions; they seemed to crop up everywhere, openly and in disguise as Latin prefixes, in uses that clearly were not literal. Reasoning from the fact that the meaning of any preposition could be demonstrated using objects …

The Muybridge Moment

The memorable Eadweard Muybridge invented a number of things, including his own name - he was born Edward Muggeridge in London in 1830. He literally got away with murder in 1872 when he travelled some seventy-five miles to shoot dead his wife’s lover (prefacing the act with ‘here's the answer to the letter you sent …

The Mind’s Eye: Digital Camera or Camera Obscura?

HAMLET My father!--methinks I see my father. HORATIO Where, my lord? HAMLET In my mind's eye, Horatio. From this we know that the ‘inward eye which is the bliss of solitude’ was a current notion in Shakespeare’s day, and doubtless it is a great deal older than that; yet a conversation I had today reminded …

Vanishing Point and the Golden Rule (by way of Immanuel Kant)

I remember once becoming absurdly excited in Princes St. Gardens in Edinburgh - that was just where I chanced to be, not the cause of the excitement - when I realised that an interesting thing happens if you number the dimensions in the reverse of the conventional order. My brother had once explained the concept …

Elective Causality

'Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by that same door as in I went.' (however, let us keep Omar Khayyam for another day) Myself when young was much annoyed by David Hume, particularly his account of causality, so I am …