I'm interested in the idea that the primary
characteristic of the mind is reflection
matter (and this is not to prejudge the question
of the relationship of mind and matter)
does not reflect - or so it would seem
except I suppose that our first metaphor for
reflection is physical - a physical relationship
as i.e. - in the case of a physical reflection
so maybe reflection is not a distinguishing
characteristic of mind -
in any case it makes the question of just what
reflection is - more crucial
so we have at least the basic idea of physical
reflection - we know what this refers to -
we have the experience
does it still make sense to speak of the mind
reflecting?
how does this come out?
'I have a thought'
now the 'I' here is what?
a thought -
whatever else it is - it is this
and so 'I have a thought'
is what?
a thought - within a thought -
to put it very crudely
a thought referring to a thought?
(even cruder)
a thought having a thought?
what can all this mean?
but there is something else
within the 'I' - there is
the 'I' that knows that the 'I' is having a thought
so are we talking about three thoughts here?
all very strange - and terribly clumsy
but we have to start somewhere
so the question - 'what is a thought?''
we can only answer this with another thought
and so it is clear
we cannot expect thought to explicate itself -
and what else is there to do the job?
or another way of putting it
thinking has no outside
you can only think 'within'
within - thought
so it's Plato's cave without the shadows?
