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What is "potted thinking"?

"This metaphor seems to me to be appropriate, because potted thinking is easily accepted, is concentrated in form, and has lost the vitamins essential to mental nourishment. You will notice that I have continued the metaphor by using the word ‘vitamins.’ Do not accept the metaphor too hastily: it must be expanded. Potted meat is sometimes a convenient form of food; it may be tasty, it contains some nourishment. But its nutritive value is not equivalent to that of the fresh meat from which it was potted. Also, it must have originally been made from fresh meat, and must not be allowed to grow stale.
Similarly a potted belief is convenient; it can be stated briefly, sometimes also in a snappy manner likely to attract attention. A potted belief should be the outcome of a belief that is not potted. It should not be held on to when circumstances have changed and new factors have come to light. We should not allow our habits of thought to close our minds, nor rely upon catch-words to save ourselves from the labour of thinking. Vitamins are essential for the natural growth of our bodies; the critical questioning at times of our potted beliefs is necessary for the development of our capacity to think to some purpose."

This quote is from Susan Stebbing (in her book "Thinking to some purpose" 1939]. What would she have thought of the current epidemic of "memes" on social media, which are IMO the epitome of potted thinking, morsels of thoughts that have lost most their intellectual vitamins.

Matias 8 June 19
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4 comments

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Read the title and thought cheetos and wondering what space smells like.

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In the US, "potted" relates to house plants that are growing in pots, i.e., potted plants. "Potted" in this context is, I suspect a Britishism, or an anachronism (possibly both), so I'm casting about for an Americanism here. "Processed" perhaps, as in processed meat (e.g., spam or canned / pressed ham and the like).

If that is how you meant it, yes, memes and other colloquial expressions are overly simplistic at times and occasionally are just quasi-profound "deepities" designed to obtain a superficial agreement from the herd.

This is not uniformly the case however.

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I thought it was someone sitting on the toilet and thinking.

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Some memes are what you say, but most of them are just jokes, and often jokes rely on potted thinking as the setup for a twist.

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