more on editorial comment

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Benjamin Kuipers <kuipers () cs utexas edu>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 17:12:51 -0600
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Benjamin Kuipers <kuipers () cs utexas edu>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on editorial comment

Dave,

Like so many others, I find your list to be enormously helpful.
However, there is a difference between using its diversity of opinion
to estimate an unknown "center" (which I think is a mistake) and
using a diversity of opinion to search for a better understanding of
the "truth" by combining different incomplete perspectives.

Here is a copy of the poem "The Blind Men and the Elephant" which I
found inspirational from my childhood, but which seems to be mostly
unknown to current students and younger colleagues.  Its relevance to
current discussions goes without saying.


It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind.)
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
``God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!''

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, ``Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!''

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
``I see,'' quoth he, ``the Elephant
Is very like a snake!''

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
``What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,'' quoth he;
`` `Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!''

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: ``E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!''

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
``I see,'' quoth he, ``the Elephant
Is very like a rope!''

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right
And all were in the wrong!

MORAL

So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!


The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe  [1816-1887]
     (Childcraft, vol.2, 1949, p.122-123)

The citation above is where I first encountered this poem, though
Google immediately provides many other sources and details.

It could be productive to divide the world into people who understand
this poem and have the humility to recognize that it might apply to
them, and those who don't.

It does *not* appear in William J. Bennett (Ed.), The Book of
Virtues:  A Treasury of Great Moral Stories (Simon & Schuster, 1993).
Perhaps there is room for an augmented set of moral stories.

All the best,

Ben Kuipers


Benjamin Kuipers, Professor         email:  kuipers () cs utexas edu
Computer Sciences Department        tel:    1-512-471-9561
University of Texas at Austin       fax:    1-512-471-8885
Austin, Texas 78712 USA             http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kuipers

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