The Paradox of Language

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McCarthy says language is the thing that's going to help us get to the true essence of things. But he might think it goes the other way, you say. There might almost be something platonic about this,. It's like, although actually, I don't know, I would have to think about that more. Well, he certainly has the idea of a degraded reality, the more particular you get. And that's the only way he could get those things into our mind. So if he could bypass that, maybe he would be into that. But he can't.

The Summer of Cormac McCarthy continues – this time we dive into his one piece of non-fiction, the short essay “The Kekulé Problem.” How does our unconscious mind solve problems that conscious deliberation can’t crack? Why does it often work elliptically, in code, rather than giving us the answer directly in language? Is McCarthy right that the unconscious doesn’t trust language because it’s such a newcomer to the human brain?

Plus we select the finalists for our listener selected episode – thanks to our beloved patrons for all their terrific suggestions!

"The Kekulé Problem" by Cormac McCarthy

Pinker & Bloom 1990

Dijksterhuis & Strick 2016