Online research in philosophy

Spinoza’s ideas on the eternity of the human mind have sparked much controversy. As opposed to most commentators, I argue that since substance is eternal, and the human mind can only be conceived in substance, the human mind must also be eternal. Only from a finite and partial view can the human mind be conceived of as having duration.

Two different uses of ‘proposition’ are distinguished: the meaning of an eternal sentence is distinguished from that which can be asserted, believed, conjectured, and so on. It is argued that, in the second sense of ‘proposition’, it is not the case that every proposition can be expressed by an eternal sentence.

It's sold as happiness in a blister pack - a cure-all that has changed the way we think about wellbeing. As Prozac reaches its 20th birthday, Anna Moore presents 20 things you need to know about the most widely used antidepressant in the world..

Spinoza insists that we can during the course of our lives increase that part of the mind that is constituted by knowledge, but he also calls that part of the mind its eternal part. How can what is eternal increase? I defend an interpretation on which there is a sense in which the eternal part of the mind can become greater without changing intrinsically at all.

“Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.” (Nietzsche, quoted by Mary in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) Charlie Kaufman’s (Being John Malkovich, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Adapta- tion) script for Director Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (April, 2004) is the latest Kate Winslet (Clementine) and Jim Carrey (Joel) movie. This comic tragedy raises questions about the role of medicine by considering the prospect of memory deletion. Characters utilize this technology to forget that they have ever met somebody, usually because the grief of those memories is too much to bear. However, to say this is a movie about medicine and its role in society would be an overstatement. The ethical issues presented by the film are not quite as overt as, say Extreme Measures (Michael Apted, 1996) and, as such, it offers a wider range of interpretations on the rights and wrongs of human modification through medical technologies. Indeed, it stretches the debate on what might be considered the proper domain of medicine. Like all the best examples, it develops a narrative where technology is presented as a seamless part of human relationships, thus subverting the technological character of the decision.

"In 'I Don't Know, Just Wait: Remembering Remarriage in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', William Day shows how Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind should be considered part of the film genre known as remarriage comedy; but he also shows how Kaufman contributes something new to the genre. Day addresses, in particular, how the conversation that is the condition for reunion involves discovering 'what it means to have memories together as a way of learning how to be together'. One of the most innovative aspects of Kaufman's filmic representation of such a conversation is its effect on the audience: how the narrative structure 'replicates for the viewer the felt contingency of memory that we attribute' to the characters we see onscreen - a couple contending with the interrelated experiences of remarriage and remembering." --David LaRocca, Introduction to The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman, 12.

This is the first book to explore and address the philosophical aspects of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Beginning with a helpful introduction that places each essay in context, specially commissioned chapters examine the following topics:

* Philosophical issues surrounding love, friendship, affirmation and repetition * The role of memory (and the emotions) in personal identity and decision-making * The morality of imagination and ethical importance of memory * Philosophical questions about self-knowledge and knowing the minds of others * The aesthetics of the film considered in relation to Gondry’s other works and issues in the philosophy of perception.

In this essay I argue that the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind eloquently and powerfully suggests a controversial philosophical position: that the harm caused by voluntary memory removal cannot be entirely understood in terms of harms that are consciously experienced. I explore this possibility through a discussion of the film that includes consideration of Nagel and Nozick on unexperienced harms, Kant on duties to oneself, and Murdoch on the requirements of morality.