Words and Images: An Essay on the Origin of Ideas by Christopher Gauker

Author:Christopher Gauker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

2. Feats of imagination

Suppose I need to replace a rubber washer in the hot water valve in my bathroom sink. Here is what I have to do. First, I unscrew the cap labeled “H” on the handle. Then I stick a screwdriver into the cylinder inside the handle and unscrew the screw at the bottom. Then I lift the handle out of its seat. Then, using my hand, I unscrew the escutcheon cap (the chrome “skirt” surrounding the stem). Using a wrench, I then unscrew the ring that holds down the stem and lift it off. Then I pull the stem out. At the bottom of the stem is a screw holding in the old washer. I unscrew that screw using a small wrench. Then I pry out the old washer with a knife, replace it with the new washer, and, finally, reverse all of the above operations.

What I have just described is the procedure by which I replace a washer. In order to generate the description, I did not actually replace any washers. (p.150) I merely imagined the process. I found words to describe what I imagined, including some words (“escutcheon cap”) that are recent additions to my vocabulary. But I could just as well, it seems to me, have imagined the operation without using any words. Likewise, if I were to actually perform the operation, I would be guided by my imagination. At each stage, I would picture the next step of the operation. Since I do have concepts that apply to some of the parts (handle, stem, escutcheon cap), I can apply concepts to the parts as I think myself through the process. The use of these concepts is entirely incidental, important only when I look for words to describe the process to others. In sum, I have an imaginative understanding of how things go together.

Suppose I am kneeling down, looking at a box turtle. I am considering whether I might poke it with my finger. I think I know what will happen next if I do so. The turtle will withdraw its head and limbs into its shell. Maybe I have learned a rule: “If you poke a turtle with your finger, it will withdraw its head and limbs into its shell.” But I do not think I need to know any such rule, written out in my mind in words or in concepts. It is, so to speak, my imagination that forms my expectations. I can imagine many different things that could happen when I poke the turtle. It could turn to leave. It could try to bite me. It could bark like a dog or fly away like a bird. It could melt, or turn into a loaf of bread. Of all the things that I can imagine happening, the thing that is most like what has happened in the past when I have poked a turtle with my finger is its withdrawing its head and limbs into its shell. For just that reason,

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