Nobody gets too much Heaven no more
It’s much harder to come by
I’m waiting in line
Nobody gets too much love anymore
It’s as high as a mountain
And harder to climb
1979, Bee Gees, Too Much Heaven lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Int. Mgb Ltd., Unicef Music.
Nostalgia is the two-face Janus: It has many benefits, and many demeaning barriers, for cognition. Nostalgia provides psychological support but it can also make the withdrawal into the private past-world worse. A little initial nostalgia gets our attention to the problems we might otherwise fail to see, and yet we must retreat from nostalgia if we are to work out the solutions properly. The danger is that nostalgia can consume a person before that person realizes what has happened. Nostalgia is a very strong emotion-thought. Furthermore, nostalgia is a barrier of hidden meaning. The thought of nostalgia is not critical enough to question and challenge our prejudiced beliefs. We all are, and can be, enchanted by nostalgia. That is not necessarily a bad thing if we can also escape it. It is important to have the moments of enchantment and fantasy but no longer than that; otherwise, we start damaging the processes of human cognition. How much is too much, one must be weary in saying for another. It is the question each person has to ask themselves.
Metaphysics: Intuition is a kind of a priori cognition that serves the purposes of metaphysics, given that metaphysics involves the search for modal knowledge. Necessary or, better, modal knowledge is a priori; so metaphysical knowledge is likewise a priori. This has an important place in cognition but one has to be weary of the way metaphysical knowledge has been abused to legitimatise imperialism and colonialism. Furthermore, metaphysical knowledge has been abused to erode community. There is no necessity in these arrangements but it is a matter of bad practice.
Magic thinking and Clarity: In Cognition, magical thinking as a strong tendency towards categorization, towards simplification of an infinitely diverse reality and of its modifications, and its reduction to a limited number. This is folk metaphysics, not philosophical metaphysics proper. Categories have an important role in cognition, but that also leads to categorical misconceptions. Categories can be hidden to our understanding and that means mistakes are made in how our mind has categorized in our belief. Again, there is no necessity in these arrangements but a matter of bad practice. It is the question each person has to ask themselves.
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Featured Image: Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams FBA (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English moral philosopher. His publications include Problems of the Self (1973), Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (1985), Shame and Necessity (1993), and Truth and Truthfulness (2002). He was knighted in 1999.
Neville Buch
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