I am interested in the mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts, how cultural remnants transmit information through time and how meaning is translated once an artefact is re-appropriated or examined from a new perspective. I have several avenues of study at the moment (a list in extended explanation), but would like some more ideas. Areas of critical theory, linguistics, evolutionary psychology and poetics are all relevant. [more inside]
posted on Jan 27, 2008 - 12 answers 
I am searching for examples of The Infinite, or the immeasurably large, in our mythologies and archetypes. I am also interested in the categories of Truth which came out of the emergence of Western, ontological thought. Does the trust in a rationally conceivable reality deny us the infinity of the mythological realm? By rooting ourselves in the present, and denying atemporal mythologies, do we also deny the infinite origins from where we came? [more inside]
posted on Nov 28, 2007 - 22 answers
Bernard Williams had a pretty low opinion of evolutionary biology. Are there any essays where he directly or indirectly criticizes the field? What about 'Shame and Necessity'? [more inside]
posted on Nov 27, 2007 - 12 answers
Explain Deleuze & Guattari's "abstract machine" in a way I can understand? [more inside]
posted on Mar 27, 2007 - 9 answers
We all know about IQ - but has anybody ever tried to make a standardised test for wisdom? [more inside]
posted on Nov 14, 2006 - 6 answers
What is the nature of the relationship between thought and language? [more inside]
posted on Apr 10, 2006 - 30 answers
What is the label for an entity or idea which began as nothing and came to have identity through its own fictionalisation? That is, notions diametrically opposed to 'simulacra' - in that the entity has no referent to begin with... [more inside]
posted on Feb 21, 2006 - 20 answers
What are the various theoretical frameworks for understanding why victims of abuse often 'deal' with their trauma by becoming perpetrators themselves? What explanations have been suggested, for example, as to why sexually molested children often grow up into sexually-molesting adults? The one that comes to mind is that the victim somehow feels he can master the trauma by becoming its perpetrator. What, or who, is the origin of this theory? Is it Freud? Does it (still) have any currency in professional circles? What, if any, other theories have been suggested?
posted on Feb 18, 2006 - 22 answers
