The Matter of Vision. Peter Wyeth

(b)

      Vision and thought

      Vision is the medium of thought

      Thought occurs in Vision

      Thought occurs only in Vision

      (Thought does not occur in language)

      Thought is produced in Images

      Thought is not produced in Language

      Thought does not originate in Language

      Thought is translated into Language

      Thought exceeds Language

      as

      Vision exceeds Language

      Language aspires to the condition of Vision

      Vision sees into another’s mind

      – Automatically

      Empathy is Automatic

      Empathy is unavoidable

      Empathy is unconscious

      The ineluctable modality of the Visible

Thought through my eyes⁶²

      Thought is Vision

      I see therefore I am

      iv (c)

      The Articulation of Vision

      Vision is Automatic

      Language is a retreat

Wordless storytelling is natural⁶³

      v

      Language

      Language the enemy of Vision

      Language puts itself above Vision

      Language wants to forget its evolution

Language evolved from warning cries⁶⁴

      Language translates Vision

      Language translates Vision

      Language approximates Vision

      Language always fails Vision

      Language has ten bits per second

      Vision ten million

      Language should serve Vision

      Language is contingent

      vi

Consciousness⁶⁵

Consciousness an effect not a cause⁶⁶

      Consciousness a pin in the Albert Hall

      (William James)

      Consciousness the tip of the iceberg

      (Freud)

Consciousness (as we know it) does not exist⁶⁷

Consciousness serves the Automatic⁶⁸

      Consciousness handles at most 50 bps

      and averages 10 bps

      (Vision has 10 million)

Consciousness an effect of the brain⁶⁹

      Consciousness is material

      (anything else is mysticism)

      vii

      Reason

      Man rationalises

      he does not Reason

      Reason is never autonomous

      (Kant’s Categorical Imperative)

      Reason is always dependent upon Emotion

      (Hume 1739, Damasio 1994)

      Man is never reasonable

      The brain is emotion not reason.

      Reason is a noble ambition

      (but never achievable)

      Reason v subjectivity

      Science is founded in Reason

      Reason + Emotion = New Science

      vii (a)

      Reason and Nature

      Nature has its reasons

      Nature is not Reason

      Nature has no plan

      Nature is not teleological

      Nature has direction but not ends

      Nature is not rational

      (in Man’s terms)

      Man has too often turned his back on the Logic of Nature

      The logic of evolution

      is the Logic of Nature

      viii

      The brain

The brain selects the Conscious⁷⁰

The brain selects survival from information⁷¹

The brain directs Consciousness to survival⁷²

      The mode of the brain is Emotion

      Emotion concerns survival

      Survival motivates the brain

      The Brain evolved as survival

      Ne plus ultra

      viii (a)

      Narrative

      Narrative is the native mode of the brain

      Narrative is the gods’ perfect engine of meaning

      Narrative is not truth but representation

      Narrative interprets information for survival

      ix

      Evolution

      Evolution is nature

      Evolution is survival

      Nothing in Neuroscience makes sense outside evolution

      ix (a)

      Cultural evolution

      Culture is nature

      Nothing is beyond nature

      Culture is evolution

      Everything in culture comes from evolution

      From culture to nature:

      Cinema

      ix (b)

      Art & science

      Science explains art via Emotion

      Neuroscience shows art is material

      The Two Cultures are one

      A science of culture

      x

      A Short History of Philosophy

      Hume declared Reason dependent on Emotion

      Kant declared Reason Categorically independent

      Kant’s Idealism licenses Hegel’s Castles of Abstraction

      France abandons Port Royal for German Idealism

      Philosophy has turned its back on nature

      The ‘unreasonable ineffectiveness of Philosophy’

      results

      Reason is contingent upon Emotion

      (Damasio)

      Reason has no independence

      x