Understanding is narrative closure, not cumulative addition of data

Evidence

The Concept is a unity that in-cludes (ein-schließt) and com-prises (ein-begreift) the elements of the whole that it is. It takes the form of a conclusion (Schluss) in which everything is comprised and comprehended. ‘Everything is a syllogism (Schluss)’ means ‘Everything is a concept.’ Absolute knowledge is an absolute syllogism: everything takes conclusive form within it. The ‘definition of the Absolute’ is ‘that it is the syllogism’ – i.e., the conclusion. But constant addition yields no conclusion, no syllogism, no ‘putting-together’. Syllogism is not addition, but narration. The absolute con-clusion ex-cludes any further addition. As narration, syllogism represents the opposite of addition. Big Data is purely additive; it never comes to an end, to a conclusion. In contrast to the correlations and additions that Big Data generates, theoretical thinking represents a narrative form of knowledge. — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 162

Categorization

• SEED: Han’s equation of syllogistic thought with narration suggests an essay on how knowledge-forms track narrative form - and why data dashboards can never close a thought.
• XREF: Parallels the archive-as-additive vs. history-as-narrative distinction in Along the Archival Grain, and McLuhan’s media-determinism. — connects to: Digital storage differs in kind from human narrative memory — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 154; Data abstractions strip narrative context to enable unlimited recategorization — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 448; Memory benefits from narrative, logical structure rather than disjointed facts — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4586 (+3 more)

Related

• Syllogistic knowledge is narrative, while Big Data is purely additive (similarity 0.92)
• Additive data without narrative structure produces meaninglessness akin to Dadaism (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Additive data without narrative structure produces meaninglessness akin to Dadaism #corroborates (0.88) — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 133
• Data abstractions strip narrative context to enable unlimited recategorization #corroborates (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 448
• Memory benefits from narrative, logical structure rather than disjointed facts #corroborates (0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4586
• Varying sentence structures can enhance narrative voice and engagement. #qualifies (0.75) — Tilar J Mazzeo, How to Write a Bestseller, 515
• The coherence of a parent’s narrative, not its content, predicts infant attachment security #exemplifies (0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 8581