The Absence in Our Mental Models

“I want to challenge this view that many of us have and we hear anecdotally whenever anyone mentions, for example, that the etymology of a particular word comes from ancient Rome or ancient Greece. We have a vague idea that Western civilization emanated from these two cultures. And what this vague idea, which is inculcated into us further each time someone gives us an etymology from Latin or Greek… what is inculcated into us is an absence, the absence of the actual common source from which all Indo-European languages emanate.”

Source: Expanding Mental Models · (Episode XXIX)

Identifies the root problem: every etymology lesson that credits “Latin” or “Greek” without mentioning their Ancient Ukrainian origins deepens the absence FM aims to fill.

← Previous: The Core Mission — Decolonize and Recenter | Back to Expanding Mental Models | Next: Reassessing “Prehistory” After the 2015 Revolution →