Lisa began by pointing out that she is hesitant to give a “last lecture”-type presentation for her Wednesday Matters, preferring to speak on something that has been more a part of her organic growth process. She discussed her interest in edifices, with a double meaning of the term. First, the architectural side: “I feel gripped by buildings,” she says, “There’s no need to explain why. Preferences need not be mediated by explanation. Justification follows preference.” Secondly, she discussed her engrossment in the historical perspective on ideas about the mind - “concepts in context” - observations providing foundation for evolutionary theory. She displayed two of her favorite paintings - one a Modern interpretation of the Brooklyn Bridge, the other a Rembrandt titled “The Philosopher Thinking” - remarking, “Not entirely coincidental!”
“What can we say about buildings?,” she asks, “We often don’t reflect on the spaces we inhabit, we take them for granted, yet they are of such importance.” For example, the issue of homelessness automatically implicitly addresses the central-ness of buildings to our consciousness. Moreover, buildings are aesthetic as well as functional. Lisa cited Mimi Lobell’s avowal that the ideas reflected in architecture are a means of giving form to the archetypes of the collective unconscious - “a metaphor for journeys through psychic realms and the building or destroying of aspects of our personality.” She also pointed to Jung’s citing of a Coptic invocation: “Thou art the house and the dweller in the house.” For example, Gothic cathedrals “pointed to God, telling us about the medieval place in the infinite.” Today, skyscrapers have their own story to tell. In this vein, Lisa pointed out the stark symbolism of collapsing buildings on 9-11.
Similarly, psychological language is the “architecture of mind,” with its “constructs,” “structures,” and so on, that “create mind.” Lisa quoted Fauconnier: “Language is a superficial manifestation of hidden, abstract, cognitive constructions.” And similar to buildings, we often take concepts for granted.
To understand the connection between concepts and architecture, Lisa located the "concept of concepts" in the philosophical problem of universals, which stem from repetition in our experience. “How do we understand our formation of ideas?,” she asks, noting that more recent discussions of concepts focus not so much on what a concept is, but what having them enables us to do. Though Plato made attempts (the Forms), the notion of categories is “an interpretative element to actively impose meaning on experience." They “enclose mental spaces, both individually and socially." She referenced George Kelly's personal construct theory and the relationship of concepts to language and shared meanings in relational and semantic networks. She pointed out that one cannot understand a concept independent of its relation to other concepts, just as one cannot avoid noticing the variety and placement of buildings as s/he witnesses the Atlanta skyline on the horizon when driving down I-20 East. The most basic relationship is that with which a concept is understood to contrast, as George Kelly emphasized. Also, concepts bear an important relationship to the body - sensation, discourse as mind, and so on.
How does the focus on conceptual history and analysis fit in with HTP? Lisa noted that we have already spent a good deal of time in our Wednesday matters talks discussing/analyzing various concepts: The concept of humanistic psychology, human nature, justice, ecstacy, vision. She also pointed to the rich tradition of conceptual analysis exemplified by William James, Maslow, etc. She noted that the ability to form abstractions and reflect upon abstractions (concepts) is viewed as central to what it means to be a human being as distinct from other kinds of beings, by thinkers as apparently diverse as Aristotle and Rollo May. Lisa cited Lobell’s sentiment that bees have their beehives, and humans have their buildings and she noted that “we are beings who construct.” Finally, a connection subsides between art and reason, She said that she views conceptual structures (theories) as "human artifacts," in much the same way that architectural structures are artifacts. Thus theories, like buildings, especially when considered in historical perspective, are interesting to visit, even if we don't want to dwell in them.
Lisa then discussed her personal interest in architecture, both literally and psychologically, and its relationship to HTP. She is fascinated by the history of concepts as categories - a “biography of concepts” regarding intuition, instinct, active learning, diagnostic categories, and autism.
Lisa also took time out to offer rejoinders to potential objections to her argument. In regard to “It’s too rational, too remote; It is thinking, not feeling,” Lisa argues that the mind is integrated. “If we conceive of mind as embodied, interconnected, socially grounded, and transcendent, then concepts are all of those things, as well,” she says, pointing out Rollo May’s proclamation that reason embraces ethics. Also, Lisa addressed the potential supposition that her interests “do not transform us, neither collectively not individually” by asking, “How else do we stay theoretically rich and socially responsible, as well?” She mentioned that her upbringing was rather one-sidedly absolutized, and felt a need to discover alternatives to these conservative constructs - “education to liberate.”
Lisa concluded by stating that “exposure to
concepts in a historical perspective helps us to challenge, personally
and collectively, the ‘taken-for-granted’s.”