Memory, Meaning, Metaphor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cMemory is the sine qua non of the creation of meaning,\u201d writes Nicholae Babuts in his Literature and the Metaphoric Universe in the Mind. \u201cHuman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cMemory is the sine qua non of the creation of meaning,\u201d writes Nicholae Babuts in his Literature and the Metaphoric Universe in the Mind. \u201cHuman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-03T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/\",\"name\":\"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-03T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-03T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"\u201cMemory is the sine qua non of the creation of meaning,\u201d writes Nicholae Babuts in his Literature and the Metaphoric Universe in the Mind. \u201cHuman\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor","description":"\u201cMemory is the sine qua non of the creation of meaning,\u201d writes Nicholae Babuts in his Literature and the Metaphoric Universe in the Mind. \u201cHuman","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor","og_description":"\u201cMemory is the sine qua non of the creation of meaning,\u201d writes Nicholae Babuts in his Literature and the Metaphoric Universe in the Mind. \u201cHuman","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2015-11-03T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/","name":"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-11-03T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-03T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"\u201cMemory is the sine qua non of the creation of meaning,\u201d writes Nicholae Babuts in his Literature and the Metaphoric Universe in the Mind. \u201cHuman","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":17690,"date":"2015-11-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2516"},"modified":"2015-11-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T00:00:00","slug":"memory-meaning-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2015\/11\/memory-meaning-metaphor\/","title":{"rendered":"Memory, Meaning, Metaphor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

\u201cMemory is the sine qua non of the creation of meaning,\u201d writes\u00a0Nicholae Babuts in his Literature and the Metaphoric Universe in the Mind<\/a>. \u201cHuman beings are capable of interpreting the world because they remember not only the moments that have just elapsed, but also events that have taken place a long time ago. And that includes their readings. Without the mnemonic function, the world would appear in a blurring indexical assembly of objects that would have no meaning beyond an arousal of our instinctive reactions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Babuts disputes the common contemporary view that memory is a \u201cconstruction company,\u201d and he does not believe it to be computer-like either. It is \u201ca processor of messages that neurons bring from the outside world to be interpreted and integrated within the inner universe. It is a living biological entity whose task is to transfigure reality and assign to it meaning. Transfiguration becomes necessary to enable memory to transport the outside world into the inner one and then to project it back.\u201d He sees metaphor itself as a \u201cmnemonic event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, it is like an orchestra playing: \u201cWe see on the stage string instruments, cellos, flutes, French horns, trumpets, etc. but are not necessarily thinking of the technical aspects of their sounds, how they produce the sounds they produce, but we are aware of those sounds and of the final integration of sounds in a symphony. It is our listening memory that integrates the sounds to give them meaning, the meaning the symphony orchestra conveys. Similarly, in the assemblies of neurons, each cell plays its part in its channel, firing at different rates, but the final product is a unified image or thought that represents the meaning conveyed by the assembly as a whole.\u201d This isn\u2019t construction, he argues, but the assembly of whole memories into different configurations for different purposes.<\/p>\n

The orchestrating of memories is essential to everyday life, and also, he argues to \u201cthe creation of sculpture, painting, architecture, music, and, of course, literature. . . . these human activities represent: they represent interpretations of reality; as such they are reality transfigured and brought within the precincts of memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the heart of Babuts\u2019 book, though, is a brief for bringing literary discussions of memory into the interdisciplinary mix of research in neuroscience, philosophy, evolutionary biology and the social sciences. \u201cThe most neglected discipline in cognitive circles is literature and literary criticism,\u201d he argues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In short, Where\u2019s the Proust?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"