grasping for greater than knowing
Goals
To critically assess …
- Knowledge inferred versus knowledge by observation
- Whether a definition justifies an assertion as true
- How honesty isn’t always telling the whole truth
- Contrast stating the false with concealing the truth
- Whether an inventory of what we don’t know is knowledge
- To what extent truth varies with personal perspective
Cho Knows
Cho knows many things.
She knows by thought alone.
A square must have four sides.
Rock’s a kind of stone.
She can drive below speed limit.
An empty can has no pop in it.
Round squares cannot be drawn.
A light switch is off or on.
Unicorns would have horns.
Maize is a kind of corn.
Two plus two equals four.
The past is over — gone, no more.
She cannot say if it’s raining.
In matters of facts she has no training.
Still Cho believes her beliefs are true.
Verified by dictionary too.
What do you Think?
- Would Cho know what time the sun will set tonight? Would she even have to get up off the couch to learn by her way of knowing?
- What justifies her beliefs?
Honestly
It only matters that you arrive,
so say “fine” to “how’s the drive?”
Honesty is not the same
as telling truth, except in name.
Honest folk don’t tell lies,
but may skip parts when that seems wise.
Speaking truth leaves nothing out,
when trying to prove beyond a doubt.
Tell the truth to testify
or finding facts to verify.
But honesty will often do,
in case of doubt, presume the true.
What do you Think?
- You have a duty to tell a court the whole truth. Your lawyer has an obligation to be honest. Why the difference?
- If I stay silent and don’t point out your error, am I honest?
Birth Song
She sang a song that made no sense.
A song of birth and pain.
I listened to the very end.
She started up again.
Apparently I walk the shore
and from there step no further.
She’s out to sea though hardly far.
Between us, shallow water.
I’ll never know how it must feel
to double life within.
Or is it that I might yet feel
something quite-else again.
The water parts the path both ways,
you think you understand.
But there is more, to be woman,
and you swim like a man.
Smiling acceptance. Yes, of course,
truth treading many levels.
Knowing as it comes to others,
but feeling when it’s personal.
Birth of grasp is firm as sand
under the weight of water.
Shifting on shore where I am sure,
the song has started over.
What do you Think?
- Can men ever understand what it is like to give birth? Just when you think you have it, the cycle starts over. What cycle? If I light a match, I see more darkness as well. To know more is to discover how much more we don’t know. Could that be the cycle?
- Is there a truth we know about facts, about others, and a truth we feel in ourselves? Is a hunch or intuition a way of knowing?