Subject: [OT]Argumentum ad elephantum

From: Edward Cherlin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 02:39:06 -0800

>From http://nuzban.wiw.org/wiki/index.php?Elephant
>Lojban Central has drawn an analogy between the six blind men and 
>the elephant on the one hand, and the six source languages Chinese, 
>Hindi, English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Lojban on the other. Of 
>course, the really arrogant party in the poem is the narrator, who 
>is convinced that he alone knows what the elephant really is!

He doesn't claim that, or indeed anything. The poem is a parable, 
which makes it much more like an observative than a claim, especially 
since there is no claim that any such events actually happened. The 
message is closer to, "Nearly complete misunderstanding by those who 
claim complete knowledge. How foolish!"

The author certainly doesn't make any claim to complete understanding 
in the poem.

"The Blind Men and the Elephant
(A Hindoo Fable)
'Twas six wise men of Hindustan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to view the elephant
(Though all of them were blind)
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
...
Each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong."

To which Pogo added, "You gotta remember, each was all blind." He too 
did not claim to know the full truth about the elephant, or truth. 

Nor did Shakyamuni Buddha, the originator of this parable. He was 
well aware that he knew rather little, and said so. Although human 
folly was his professional specialty, he was often surprised at the 
specific forms it took, as reflected in the peculiar things he had to 
make rules about. 

(A modern example: A Japanese temple where I stayed had found it 
necessary to post a rule forbidding urinating in the hibachis, 
because, in fact, it made them wet and soggy and hard to light. And 
smelly, too, of course.)

-- 
Edward Cherlin
[email-masked]
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