Murat Güneş

Memory systems are about taking ownership of ideas

The “your thoughts or source thoughts” dichotomy that frequently surfaces in the discourse around the Zettelkasten method is artificial and “theory-driven”. The point of note-taking and memory systems is to find the intersection where surprise (ethnographic method), conflicts and tensions arise between one’s own thoughts and the thinking in the source, exploit that, and take ownership of the synthesis that emerges. The source is a support mechanism, scaffolding. What matters is one’s own engagement with it, and what results from it. Once you link a thought within your own collection of notes, once you contextualize it in your own world, it is owned by you.

TODO: Add section on notes as a device for making claims.

References:

Dan Allosso @ https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/3120/keeping-own-ideas-in-zettelkasten

As you write a new note […] the focus shifts from the source material to your own thoughts. This is where you begin taking real ownership of the idea, using the source as support for a thought you’re pursuing; a point you want to make.