I Think, Therefore I Can A Night of Philosophy April 2015 Barbara Gail Montero The City University...

I Think Therefore I Can

A Night of Philosophy April 2015

Barbara Gail MonteroThe City University of New York

bmonterogccunyedu

Wersquove all experienced times when thinking seems to interfere with doing

Hamlet laments how ldquothe pale cast of thoughtrdquo which impedes ldquothe native hue of resolutionrdquo makes ldquoenterprises of great pith and moment lose the name of actionrdquo (Act V Scene ii)

But would Hamlet have performed better if he thought less and acted more

Does thinking interfere with performing your best

Quick answer No

My focus Expert level skill

Thirteen-time PGA winner Dave Hill claimed ldquoGolf is like sex You canrsquot be thinking about the mechanics of the act while you are performingrdquo

But why not

I Verbal Overshadowing

II Heidegger Merleau-Ponty and Dewy on ldquoBlanking Outrdquo

III Hamlet and Paralysis by Analysis

IV Dave Hillrsquos Analogy

I Verbal OvershadowingConceptualization is thought to hinder perceptual judgments

Wilson and Schoolerrsquos (1991) jam-tasting experiment

The researchersrsquo conclusion ldquoAnalyzing reasons can focus peoples attention on nonoptimal criteriardquo

Malcolm Gladwell (2000) puts it more colorfullyldquoBy making people think about jam Wilson and Schooler turned them into jam idiotsrdquo

Yet the expert jam tasters employed by Consumer Reports were presumably not negatively affected by verbalizing their preferences

Schoolers more recent work suggests that with training people are able to conceptualize their perceptual judgments without this interfering with their performance Melcher amp Schoolerrsquos (2004) mycology experiment

Cellist Inbal Segev

My teacher who was a student of Casals would say ldquodonrsquot let the music lead you you need to direct it

Getting lost in the music is a mistake she said as it precludes thought

II Blanking Out

Hubert Dreyfus (2013) [I]n total absorption sometimes called flow one

is so fully absorbed in onersquos activity that one is not even marginally thinking about what one is doing

Mauriece Merleau-Ponty (1945) The orator does not think before speaking nor

even while speaking his speech is his thought The end of the speech or text will be the lifting of a spell It is at this stage that thoughts on the speech or text will be able to arise

All agree that thinking occurs when there are difficulties that need to be addressed

John Dewy (1910) Thinking begins in what may fairly enough be called a forked-road situation a situation which is

ambiguous which presents a dilemma which proposes alternatives [yet]hellipas long as our activity glides smoothly along from one thing to anotherhellipthere is no call for reflection

Experts are continually in forked-road situations

Heidegger (1927)

[I]n our natural comportment towards things we never think a single thing and whenever we seize upon it

expressly for itself we are taking it out of a contexture to which it belongs in its real content

This may be generally true but expertise is not natural it involves pushing beyond what is natural

III Hamlet and paralysis by analysis

Hamlet opines that his inability to

take action is due to his ldquothinking too precisely on

the eventrdquo

Is this an example of paralysis by analysis

Hamlet might think so but Shakespeare doesnrsquot

The play illustrates the importance of reflection Instinctive behavior has disastrous consequences Hamlet impulsively stabs Polonius A moment of reflection and he would have realizes that he had on his way to his motherrsquos room passed his intended victim (Claudius) praying in the church

IV The question yoursquove been waiting forhellip

Earlier I quoted golfer Dave Hill ldquoGolf is like sex You canrsquot be thinking about the mechanics of the act while you are performingrdquo

Is sex like golf

Aristotle had something to say about this

Nicomachean Ethics book 7 chapter 11

οἷον τῇ τῶν ἀφροδισίων οὐδένα γὰρ ἂν δύνασθαι νοῆσαί τι ἐν αὐτῇ(1152b17ndash18)

As with the pleasure of sex no one could have any thoughts when enjoying that (trans C Rowe)

What is my view

THANK YOU

Dewey John (1997) How We Think Mineola NY Dover (Originally published 1910)

Dreyfus Hubert L (2013) ldquoThe Myth of the Pervasiveness of the Mentalrdquo In JK Schear (ed) Mind Reason and Being-in-the-World The McDowell-Dreyfus Debate (New York Routledge) 15-40

Gladwell Malcolm (2000 August 2128) The Art of Failure [Article] The New Yorker 84-92

Heidegger Martin (19881927 The Basic Problems of Phenomenology) The Basic Problems of Phenomenology Trans A Hofstadter Revised ed Bloomington IN Indiana University Press

Melcher JM amp Schooler JW (2004) Perceptual and conceptual training mediate the verbal overshadowing effect in an unfamiliar domain Memory amp Cognition 32(4) 618-31

Wilson TD amp Schooler JW (1991) Thinking too much Introspection can reduce the quality of preferences and decisions Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60(2) 181-92

Merleau-Ponty Maurice (1945) Phenomenology of Perception London Taylor amp Francis Books Ltd


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II Blanking Out

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IV The question yoursquove been waiting forhellip Earlier I quoted gol

Slide 17

THANK YOU Dewey John (

Wersquove all experienced times when thinking seems to interfere with doing

Hamlet laments how ldquothe pale cast of thoughtrdquo which impedes ldquothe native hue of resolutionrdquo makes ldquoenterprises of great pith and moment lose the name of actionrdquo (Act V Scene ii)



Quick answer No



But why not











Cellist Inbal Segev



II Blanking Out









Heidegger (1927)







the eventrdquo






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17




Quick answer No



But why not











Cellist Inbal Segev



II Blanking Out









Heidegger (1927)







the eventrdquo






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17



But why not











Cellist Inbal Segev



II Blanking Out









Heidegger (1927)







the eventrdquo






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17












Cellist Inbal Segev



II Blanking Out









Heidegger (1927)







the eventrdquo






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17


II Blanking Out









Heidegger (1927)







the eventrdquo






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17






Heidegger (1927)







the eventrdquo






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17





the eventrdquo






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17






Is sex like golf





What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17






What is my view

THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17


THANK YOU









Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 4

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

II Blanking Out

Slide 12

Slide 13


Slide 15


Slide 17


I Think, Therefore I Can A Night of Philosophy April 2015 Barbara Gail Montero The City University...

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Transcript of I Think, Therefore I Can A Night of Philosophy April 2015 Barbara Gail Montero The City University...