First, lets have a look at what we understand under 'idea' and 'experience', because if we understand different things under those terms, that would lead to misunderstanding, and that could lead to a discussion where in the end we would find out that we do understand the same about it, and that the discussion could have been avoided. If the foundation of this text isn't stable, then nothing built on it will be.
Its like building a castle in the air 25 meters above a swamp, and thinking it is being built on a rock 25 meter high. There is quite a difference between the two, as you would surely agree.
So what do we understand about an idea, an experience? We all use the word, we are aware that we have ideas, but explaining what we understand as to be an idea, and experience, doesn't seem to be so easy. I have tried, and I failed to find an explanation that would be clear enough, and universal enough. So here are definitions of what the terms 'idea' and 'experience' mean.
A short definition of what the term 'idea' means:
An idea (Greek: ιδέα) is a specific thought or concept that arises in the mind of a person as a result of thinking. The term arises in both popular and philosophical terminology.
A short definition of what the term 'experience' means:
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event. The history of the word experience aligns it closely with the concept of experiment.
Now that we are clear about what both terms mean, let’s have a look at some examples, of what is know about ideas and the people involved in them, who came up with them, and used them.
Introduction
This quote from Nature via Nurture (p 231) says it all:
"It is bad enough to be eclipsed on the brink of eternal fame by a competitor, but imagine how much worse it feels if that competitor has been dead for more than a decade and lived his entire life in total obscurity inside a monastery. No wonder Hugo De Vries stares rather unhappily out of my photograph. In 1900 he published a radical theory, for which he felt he deserved the sort of acclaim that had been showered upon John Dalton and was about to be showered on Max Planck.
Article comments
1 - John Bil
This post is unoriginal. Stop copying.
2 - Floris Vermeir
perhaps that the subject is unorignal, after all I won't be the first to think about it, but except for the quotes, this post wasn't copied but written.
It is not copied form any of the books as I have not read them. It is about an issue, I have beenm thinking about some time, and of which I do know I am not alone.
Check this site, and you will se that others think about it as well.
link
3 - John Bil
You said "Saying that an idea is unoriginal because somebody else has already thought it and therefore the person working on that idea, should stop doing so, stifles innovation and creativity. But when saying that one also says something else, saying that a person can have no original ideas, thoughts. Most people would call 'nonsense' and they are correct."
So I said "This post is unoriginal. Stop copying."
It was a joke.
4 - c ochs
A person discovering something needs a world in which this discovery can be understood and recognized. Some significant scientific discoveries had to be rediscovered because the world at that time was not yet ready to understand the first discovery.
A discovery needs not only the discovery but the world that can recognize what has been found.
5 - buzz
hmm. interesting meanderings, that i too have felt before, or more specifically, shared. I believe our origins is the fundamental ignorance of mankind that fuels our Desire for truth and knowledge. i bet you like the movie the Matrix, lol. I akin mankind with the number Zero. Is zero a number? Depends on the context. Is an idea original, depends on the context. I think people have trouble grasping that the Symbolic World is a system, like a super organism, except it is completely unaware of its existence. The hope of mankind is that there is some kind of PATTERN. when God puts the jigsaw pieces together, does he have a Giant Picture on the surface to provide clues or are the pieces simply blank and he has to try and fit each one together, somewhat messily?
Another good movie that has the same message is PI Faith in Chaos. if there was a PATTERN to ideas, the varying levels of intelligence would not exist. if one could identify the pattern of how thoughts connect, you could make predictions, however, these predictions could only be applied to your own awareness...get the drift. Plato's Cave anybody? i believe that's why some people think insanity and genius are linked in some weird way, both are in touch with the Pattern by demonstrating anti social behavior. but does a Pattern exist? What is the Matrix lol.