All thought about the mind requires speaking in fictional spatial terms

Evidence

Of nothing that has place, or passes, in our minds can we give any account, any otherwise than by speaking of it as if it were a portion of space, with portions of matter, some of them at rest, others moving in it. Of nothing, therefore, that has place, or passes in our mind, can we speak, or so much as think, otherwise than in the way of fiction. To this word fiction we must not attach either those sentiments of pleasure, or those sentiments of displeasure, which, with so much propriety, attach themselves to it on the occasion in which it is most commonly in use. Very different in respect of purpose and necessity, very different is this logical species of fiction from the poetical and political; – very different the fiction of the Logician from the fictions of poets, priests, and lawyers. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 408

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the chapter to come on the panopticon-as-institution, where surveillance is itself a ‘fiction’ in Bentham’s logical sense — a real architecture producing an imagined, internalized omnipresence. — connects to: Spatial audio systems create illusions of direction and space rather than reproducing them exactly; Every communication form carries a spatial or temporal bias — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 651; Sound creates spatial dimensions between conversing bodies — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 208 (+5 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: A rare epistemic claim: language’s fictions are not decorative but the irreducible medium of all thought; this recasts ‘fiction’ from pejorative to necessary.

Related

• No higher language could exist without the fiction that dresses abstractions as real (similarity 0.79)
• Every fictitious entity must be discussed as if it were real (similarity 0.78)
• Time depends on space, itself a fictitious entity, for any meaning (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Every communication form carries a spatial or temporal bias #expands (0.72) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 651
• Sound creates spatial dimensions between conversing bodies #exemplifies (0.72) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 208
• Spatial audio systems create illusions of direction and space rather than reproducing them exactly #exemplifies (0.70)