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One idea I've had in my mind for over 20 years now is Harold Bloom's assertion that Shakespeare shaped the modern mind but I don't think I really understood that until I studied memory, cognition and learning.

I'd say the two most perceptive ideas Shakespeare had on this were 1. the constructive and unreliable nature of memory ("remembrance of things past." etc.)

and 2. the idea of cognitive dissonance specifically the notion of paradox and irresolution. This is evident EVERYWHERE in the language (Fair is foul, and foul is fair etc.)

I really need to talk to you about this. I use the term 'proto-psychology' all the time when teaching Shakespeare. There are lowly-ish beginnings to his life, but because of his Dad, he would have come into contact with higher echelons before patronage. He was also educated in 'The Classics'.

He draws on Aristotle a lot in his Histories and Tragedies, but doesn't adopt the ideas entirely. He borrows and downright plagiarises other sources, but makes them something else. We can only speculate on much else.

Great thread. I also think we find it really hard (collective not you) to really get people in the past were just as clever as us. I think of this when I look at images of cave paintings designed to move in torchlight.

Absolutely. In many ways we're getting dumber. In fact I think we've peaked and it's downhill from here.

Sadly agree. There's something very sublime about thinking how much existed *inside* a prehistoric etc persons head when the looked out on the world and then comparing it to how much we've outsourced and what's there instead.

Why ‘just as clever’? What about ‘cleverer’? The advent of certain technologies may give the illusion that we are now ‘cleverer’. 🧐…

My hunch is it's probably just expressed differently but that doesn't mean all means of expressing it are equally valid and useful. I can't believe knowing the intimate details of semi strangers lives from sm is as meaningful as knowing the landscape the way those in the ice age did.