How do we think?
PS I am eight
Philosopher's reply
Dear Sophia,
We think by getting surprised, and wondering why it happened.
Yours,
Susanna
Philosopher's profile
Susanna Siegel
Harvard University, USA
Website
A good novelist can produce a vivid depiction of a character from little detail, if the details selected are just right. I'm struck by Murdoch's idea that people have distinctive "visions" that can show up in "their mode of speech or silence, their choice of words, their assessments of others,... what they think attractive or praise-worthy, what they think funny". Here Murdoch shows us how a seemingly small detail can capture a person's distinctive texture of being.
