Ideas | japcent

Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud by Peter Watson

As the title suggests: this is an overall treatment on the history of ideas in general, where Watson explains his own organizational scheme which is divided into the three main categories of the soul, Europe and the experiment.

In his own words:

"I should perhaps expand a little on what I mean by 'idea'. I do not have any magic formula according to which ideas have been chosen for inclusion in this book. I include abstract ideas and I include inventions which I think are or were important...inventions are evidence of ideas."

"My aim throughout has been to identify and discuss those ideas and inventions that have had a long-term influence on the way we live or have lived and think"

The point of this book is to condense all of the millions of thoughts, processes and events and try to give some sense to Humanity's seemingly brief passage through this world. Trying to expand once again on every subject would be breaking down the nice and coherent structure that Watson has put together. I will thus re-state the main titles, suggesting everything that gets discussed in them and will elaborate on my commentary on the meaningfulness such ideas have come to hold in just another person's life, perhaps in a way as a resulting part of this vast journey we humans have undertaken.

PART 1: FROM LUCY TO GILGAMESH

I. Ideas Before Language

II. The Emergence of Language and the Conquest of Cold.

III. The Birth of the Gods, the Evolution of House and Home

IV. Cities of Wisdom

PART 2: ISAIAH TO ZHU XI. THE ROMANCE OF THE SOUL.

V. Sacrifice, Soul, Saviour: "The Spiritual Breakthrough"

It's easy to lose onself in the present mindest and concern of his present times. Everything seems so relevant, of such high importance as if our lives where to continue forever. Complicated relatonships, stress at work, great movies, the next summer vacation trip, sickness, even longer things such as the pursuit of a career, simply perhaps giving meaning to the endless ocean of things that surround and inhabit us. In reading books such as "Ideas" I am reminded of how my life is but a speck in the timeline of humanity. I do not mean speck in an insignificant sense, for it is every single individual that adheres meaning to it all, but speck in terms of duration and perhaps participation in the great conversation of ideas "where human beings forever seek to understand themselves" (Oakshott would say). It is amazing even to contemplate the thought of how so many years ago humans were struggling to beat the cold and survive, and today I am in front of this amazing invention writing my thoughts based on the millions of millions of millions of thoughts that gave rise to the very possibility of me doing this right now. Again, to clarify, I don't mean this in a deterministic sense where I am but the product of a domino chain, but rather in awe of the progress humanity has been making from the very records we have of our long yet short history. I can simply hope that in my journey I am able to contribute to something in these history of ideas. Perhaps writing this entry will leave trace of what some students where trying to innovate upon in Guatemala, 2014, Perhaps I will be swallowed by the countless list of names and ideas we've accumulated. Whatever the case, I consider it important to acknowledge that kindling, that spark that has been ignited by contemplating the density every page of this book holds. It is an attempt to portray our creative complexity and understand what this whole thing of life, feelings, thoughts and humanity is all about.