Distribution Automatique

Sunday, May 23

notebook: 1/17/84

We can hypothesize that attention
functions similarly to light.

Does the attentional beam have a
speed-?

The poem has a causal structure-
this structure causes an effect in
the attentional system.

Apprehension precedes comprehension-
as-
less abstract-----------more abstract

The causal structure of the poem
is that which effects first
the attentional system (at the level
of apprehension-) and secondly the mnemonic
system (at the level of comprehension)

The error of this is to equate the
attentional system (or ignore it) in favor
of the pre-conscious system

This mobility of the attentional
system increases the------------

A poem is an object with
an inexhaustible--------number of possible-
meanings- thus as an object it
has a causal structure (Cartwright
and Mendell)

Poetics and psychoanalysis are
scientific (explanatory) to the
extent that their theoretical formulations
focus on objects with a causal
structure. [But a structure cannot
cause anything w/o an interactive
principle] that is, their effects may
be traced and explained by some functional
mechanism
intrinsic in their structure.

Poems cause the mental attentional function to
behave within certain predictable ways

In order to understand an abstract
entity it is necessary to understand the
effect such an object has on attention
(apprehension) and understanding
(comprehension). The interplay of the
abstract and concrete in
the experience of attending to paintings and poems
has to do
with the experiential overlay & interplay of

Attentional beam--------"wavelength"
light-------------------"wavelength"
crystal diode-----------"wavelength"
"Something" in mental functioning
which is like a crystal diode
in the physical universe
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Freud's "Topological Theory"-----Math/physics
"Structural theory"--------------Physics/linguistics
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Dreaming "refracts" thought-waves the way
a crystal diode refracts light waves
which acts as a rectifier for the
attentional beam- this is
consistent with using the funtioning
& structure of complex material
objects (constructed
objects for external perception)
as metaphorical objects to understand
mental processes
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