Memorize Your Names and Dates to Study Philosophy
There is no one-click solution to educating yourself
We live in a world of quick one-click solutions.
The Internet is set to remove the need to memorize anything.
Back in the 80s, I remember carrying a stack of printed maps in my car when driving from one state to another. Now all I need is to listen to my phone.
But you can’t do that when studying philosophy or history of ideas.
Sure enough, you can always Google any name or date you want.
But not having them at the tip of your tongue, prevents the subconscious brewing and marination of ideas.
Why Memorize?
When you memorize names and dates, they start to germinate in the background of your conscious processes. You start to see unexpected connections between names and dates if you memorize them and make them your own. If you don’t, such connections don’t multiply. Seeking them on the Internet chops up your attention and prevents higher levels of abstraction.
Virtuoso musicians know where each note is on their instrument by heart. They don’t try to figure out where each note is when they are performing on the stage.
Likewise, know the basic building blocks of your trade as a philosopher (names and dates) before you start putting what you have learned together and build bridges to higher levels of synthesis.
My List (in progress)
Here are some basic names and dates that I have memorized recently. Please feel free to come up with a list of your own if you don’t agree with my list.
HINT: I find memorizing death dates (a single date) easier to do than memorizing “when someone lived” in general. It also reminds me how fleeting life is…
Karahan Tepe and Göbekli Tepe, Şanlıurfa, Türkiye — the oldest human settlements ever discovered — 10,000 BC
Sumer Civilization — 4500-to-1900 BC
First Egyptian Dynasty — 3150 -to-2890 BC
Stonehedge — 3,000-to-2,000 BC
Battle of Troy — 1250 BC
Homer writes Iliad and the Odyssey — 8th cent BC
Thales of Miletus — 7th cent BC
Anaxagoras — 5th cent BC
Heraclitus — 6th-5th cent BC
Death of Pythagoras — 495 BC
Death of Socrates — 399 BC
Death of Plato — 347 BC
Death of Aristotle — 322 BC
Death of Alexander the Great — 323 BC
“Golden Age of Islam” in Baghdad — 8th to 11th centuries
Death of Al-Farabi — 950
Death of Ibn Sina or Avicenna — 1037
Death of Al-Ghazali — 1111
Death of Ibn Rushd or Averroes —1198
Magna Carta — 1215
Death of Copernicus — 1543
Death of William Shakespeare — 1616
Death of Kepler — 1630
Death of Galileo Galilei — 1642
Death of René Descartes — 1650
Death of Baruch Spinoza — 1677
Death of Isaac Newton — 1727
Death of David Hume — 1776
French Revolution — 1789
Death of Immanuel Kant — 1804
Death of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel — 1831
“Success is dependent on effort.” — Sophocles (497–405 BC)
Every name and date memorized is one more victory over chaos and incomprehension.
HINT: Have you used the memory flash card technique? Try it and you may get hooked on it.
Good luck with your trekking up towards the examined life.