“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”

     – Ludwig Wittgenstein

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

     – Albert Einstein

The history of philosophy is marked by verbal thinking.  It could be argued that all written philosophy has been constrained by words. But is there a better way?

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Visual Thinking

As an architect, I find myself constantly alternating between two primary modes of thought: verbal thinking and visual thinking. I solve complex spatial conditions through visual thinking, and then communicate building designs to engineers, clients, and builders through a combination of verbal and visual methods. While I greatly value verbal thinking, I believe that problems of higher complexity can be better solved through visual thinking. 

Some of the greatest scientific achievements have been accomplished through visual thinking.  Einstein would conduct thought experiments to solve his toughest problems, often imagining that he was a particle traveling at the speed of light.  Newtown famously visualized an apple falling from a tree as he developed his theory of gravity, and the double-helix structure of DNA was discovered by Watson and Crick through mental visualizations. Even today, most scientific breakthroughs are discovered and communicated through visual means.

The use of visual thinking in contemporary philosophy is largely absent.  Centuries ago, Descartes was thinking visually when he shut himself in a stove, closed his eyes, and stripped away all presumptions, ultimately arriving at his world-changing declaration: I think therefore I am.  Many other historical philosophers have also used this method to achieve breakthroughs, yet contemporary philosophy is mired in linguistics.  While I agree with Wittgenstein that our use of language shapes our understanding of the world, I question whether our world is truly confined by our ability to linguisize it.

This is where visual thinking comes into play.  Visual thinking is the ability to think beyond words, using mental images to conceptualize ideas.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a visual thinking is worth a thousand thoughts.

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The Mind Palace

Competitors in elite memory competitions use a method they call “mind palaces” to memorize long sequences of numbers and words. Mind palaces are the best way to quickly memorize large amounts information; all of the recent winners have used this approach.  The method is simple: visualize a familiar place, associate each item to be memorized with an object in the space, and then call upon this visualization to remember the vast sequence of information.

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Visual Thinking in Philosophy

Visual thinking helps architects to solve complex spatial issues, scientists to discover new theories, and competitors to memorize lengthy sequences of information.  It stands to reason that visualization may also help philosophers solve problems that language is otherwise unfit for.

Philosophy must be communicated through language, but the discovery of philosophical concepts need not always be through linguistics.  It may also be that visual philosophy is more accessible to the general public.  Each individual has different ways of thinking, and in many cases, a person’s primary way of thinking is not verbal.  Language is a bottleneck to both the expression of one’s thoughts and to their thinking.  Visual thinking removes this obstacle by increasing the accessibility and efficiency of thinking itself.

Looking to the history of philosophy, there are many good examples; Plato and Aristotle are two uniquely visual thinkers.  Plato uses allegory heavily in his best works, including his allegory of the cave where he discusses how we perceive the nature of reality, and his allegory of the republic where he compares governing a city-state to how we should use reason to preside over our own soul.  Likewise, Aristotle’s exercises to find balance between extremes in his Ethika Nikomacheia is an inherently visual way to think about ethics.  Nietzsche’s use of narrative in his most widely-read work studies philosophy through the character Zarathustra, whose meditations and actions are recorded throughout his life as a hermit.  Some of the most poignant philosophy brought to life exists in the writings of Dostoyevsky, whose characters encounter ethical dilemmas which are developed and expanded upon in a fictional world of consequences. No doubt all of these philosophers have produced timeless works as a result of their ability to use visual thinking. 

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Challenging Assumptions

Visual thinking can bring about new ways of understanding.  We often visualize when we think, but we may not be conscious of what we are visualizing. Culture and language shape us towards specific ways of seeing, and we should question these implicit mental assumptions.  As an example, we visualize time facing forward. We imagine ourselves moving forward into the future as if we were walking or driving a car.  This is not a universal way to visualize time; there are some cultures who see it oppositely.  The Aymara people of the Andes and the Māori of New Zealand understand that the past is seen and known, while the future is unseen and unknown.  Therefore, they imagine we look forward into the past, while the future comes at us from behind.  Visualizing time in this way changes how we think about it.  We should be keen to reconsider how we visualize concepts, especially the ones which we have grown accustomed to. 

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Thought Palaces

“Design is thinking made visual.”

     – Saul Bass

What if philosophy could be a design exercise?

Similar to a mind palace for memorization, what if we created a thought palace wherein we could think philosophically? What would a place in our mind look like where we could place our thoughts, connect them to other thoughts, and test their compatibility?

While verbal thinking is linear, visual thinking can shape itself in any direction: as a centralized form, as a series of nodes, as a branching structure, as a mobius twisting back on itself, as a room full of memories, as a setting for conversations or events, as a blank void, as a dense forest, as a four dimensional entity.

What is important in shaping a palace for thinking is that it is comprehensive and connects all possible information such that blind-spots are discouraged and contradictions unlikely. Equally important is that its structure allows for full and complete re-organization when new information warrants it. As we say in architecture when we find ourselves holding onto an idea that is no longer appropriate: “kill your darlings.” A good philosophical thought palace should be interconnected, flexible, and iterative.

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Philosophy as a Design Process

If the process of philosophy were treated more consciously like a design process, the thoughts that arise would be better tested and more usable. If the modern goal of philosophy is to make thinking more useful and more accessible, then further study into visual thinking and the construction of thought palaces is a worthwhile effort. 

Philosophy as a visual design exercise more accurately describes its reality as a human-made thing.  Philosophy is never the truth, only a way of seeing toward the truth.  The iterative nature of philosophy as design exercise emphasizes the imperfection of thinking, while the use of visualization harnesses one of the most powerful human faculties.  A question to ask yourself: what does your philosophical thought palace look like, and what thought experiments would you like to conduct?

Without language, we cannot categorize our experiences or our world around us, and we cannot share these learnings with others; however, not all people are facile enough with language to discuss the most essential philosophical questions at a depth needed for a fulfilling life.  This leads people down the wrong paths for the fulfillment of these intellectual human needs.  Could a well-designed philosophy be more easily shared with the general public?  What would a future look like where visual philosophy gave more people the tools needed to truly think?  Not only would people be happier and more fulfilled, but it may be that with more philosophers, humanity could chart a different course toward a future less dependent on language and more rooted in the essential questions, ethics, and goodness of humankind.  In designing our philosophy, we design our future.

Conclusion

In the end, perhaps the most profound philosophical inquiry is not merely what we think, but how we think. In exploring the limitations imposed by language, the very tool that shapes our understanding, we have questioned whether our world is truly confined by its supposed linguistic boundaries. Visual thinking, with its capacity to transcend words and unlock new dimensions of comprehension, presents a compelling alternative. From the architect’s spatial reasoning to the scientist’s thought experiments and the memory champion’s mind palaces, the power of visualization is undeniable. By embracing this mode of thought, and consciously constructing our own “thought palaces,” we can break free from the linear constraints of language and explore the vast, interconnected landscape of ideas. Treating philosophy as a design process acknowledges its iterative nature and harnesses the inherent power of human visualization. This is a recognition that philosophy is not a static truth, but a dynamic, evolving human endeavor. To truly expand the limits of our world, we must dare to think beyond words, and design the very space in which our thoughts reside.

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[This essay is adjacent to “The Goal of Philosophy” and will be further elaborated in subsequent posts.]