Topics Mind

Question When we say that something is "in" our memory or "in" our imagination, what does this "in" really mean? The meaning of location is not more than metaphorical, then what meaning is this?

Accepted:
November 11, 2007

Comments

You're surely right that the use of 'in' here is metaphorical. Instead a literal cashing out of the claim that something is in our memory might go like this: A fact is in my memory when I am able to call it up for purposes of reasoning and action. That is, something is "in" my memory insofar as I can activate it in such a way to use it for some cognitive or practical purpose. This suggestion for cashing out the metaphor could in turn use a great deal of further elucidation, but this is not the place for such pedantry.

Again, something is "in" my imagination, either because I can form an image of it, or I can reason with the possibility it signifies in order to draw conclusions. Thus Pagasus is in my imagination because I can form a mental picture of it, and so forth.

In his classic _The Concept of Mind_, Gilbert Ryle discusses various uses of the metaphorical "in" that's bothering you, and I'd recommend his discussion. (You can appreciate a lot of what he says here without having to buy into his behaviorism.)

Question When we say that something is "in" our memory or "in" our imagination, what does this "in" really mean? The meaning of location is not more than metaphorical, then what meaning is this? Accepted:November 11, 2007

Question When we say that something is "in" our memory or "in" our imagination, what does this "in" really mean? The meaning of location is not more than metaphorical, then what meaning is this?

Accepted:
November 11, 2007