ELFT HÍRADÓ

["Laszlo E. Szabo" <leszabo AT hps.elte.hu>]

Department of HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Eotvos University, Budapest
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Pazmany P. setany 1/A
Budapest, Hungary
Phone/Fax: (36-1) 372 2924
The web site of the seminar:
http://hps.elte.hu/seminar


Philosophy of Science Colloquium
Room 6.54 (6th floor)  Monday 4:00 PM
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28 October  4:00 PM   6th floor 6.54
(Language of presentation: English)


Douwe Draaisma <http://www.ppsw.rug.nl/~teng/draaisma.html>
Heymans Institute, Univerity of Groningen


 The tracks of thought: metaphors of memory

There has always been an intimate link between human memory and the
means invented to record knowledge independently of that memory. From
Plato's wax tablet to holography and computers, artificial memories have
supported, relieved and occasionally replaced natural memory. Over the
centuries these artificial memories have also shaped our views of
remembering and forgetting, providing the terms and concepts with which
we have reflected on our own memory. After a general introduction on the
theme of metaphor and memory, I will demonstrate my analysis by the case
of 'panoramic memory', the experience sometimes reported by persons in
sudden mortal danger of seeing a rapid sequence of visual scenes from
their childhood 'flash before their eyes like a movie'. A brief history
of  metaphorical descriptions of this sensation from the period before
the invention of film will make clear just how metaphors may lay down
the tracks of our thoughts.
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Douwe Draaisma's book, METAFORAMASINA
<http://www.typotex.hu/p_0027.html>, has been recently published in
Hungarian translation.


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The 60-minute lecture is followed by a 10-minute break. Then we held a
30-60-minute discussion.


The organizer of the seminar: László E. Szabó
<http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo> (email: 
leszabo AT hps.elte.hu
 )


--
L a s z l o   E.   S z a b o
Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos University, Budapest
H-1518 Budapest, Pf. 32, Hungary
Phone/Fax: (36-1)372-2924
Mobil/SMS: (36) 20-366-1172
http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo