Thursday, November 04, 2004

For Keeping in Mind

Don't forget: the Early Modernists’ Carnival, Carnivalesque, is coming to Houyhnhnm Land (pronounced “whinnim” or “hwinnimn"), my other weblog. The date will be November 5 (probably late in the evening). If you have written a post in September or October (the first few days of November will be OK, too), or have in surfing the blogosphere come across a post, on the early modern period (broadly conceived - from about 1450 to 1850), send it my way. You can email me through the “Email” link at Houyhnhnm Land, or directly through the following address:

branem2[at]branemrys[dot]org

(With @ for [at] and . for [dot], of course.)

Since H.L. is devoted primarily to early modern philosophy, posts in that area, or in the general history of ideas in the early modern period, will be especially welcome; however, this is in no way a requirement. Also, if you have a post that’s primarily on the late medieval period, or on the post-early-modern period, which would be of interest to early modernists in any way, we’re interested in that, too.

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Chris at Mixing Memory has been doing a great series on cognitive science research into metaphors. This is a topic dear to my heart, so I'll put up the posts as they come along. So far he has:

Metaphor I: A Brief History of Metaphors in Cognitive Science
Metaphor II: "Metaphor Is Like Analogy"
Metaphor III: Metaphor Is Categorization
Metaphor IV: The Reckoning

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November 25th is, as you know, the Feast Day of Queen Saint Catharine of Alexandria, Virgin and Great Martyr. She is a patron saint of schools, philosophers, theologians, and rhetoricians. Starting about the thirteenth century, her feast day became one of the most important holidays of the year, and remained important in places even into the eighteenth century (Leibniz mentions St. Catharine's Day customs somewhere as an easily recognizable example). I have decided that Siris will hold a St. Catharine's Day Pageant, since she would quite clearly be the patron saint of this blog, and if Patrick and Valentine get celebrated, I don't see why she shouldn't. It won't quite be a blog carnival, although there will be linking (so if you come across anything that would be fitting, send it my way via the above address), and I'll be planning a number of things.