Day 26
It isn't all that bad to remind those animal activists among us that a bullet through the neck is arguably the least cruel way in which any given deer is likely to die. It is not as though the deer has a choice, but if I were to choose, I'd take the bullet ahead of the starvation or the wolf pack.
Ludwig Wittgenstein said that if a lion could talk, we'd never understand it. I spent some time thinking about what this means not about the animal, but about humanity. I think the idea is that different creatures simply think and communicate under different systems, such that ideas and communications aren't translatable the way our human languages are.
Perhaps we take for granted a little too heavily the translatability of human language, especially over history. Sometimes when I'm deep into Aristotle's or Socrates' work, I suddently get the impression that how they viewed the world was so completely different that no amount of reading on my part would ever lead me to an understanding of it. What does it feel like to believe that the earth is the literal center of the universe?
I don't know any better than a lion does. And this is the point; humans themselves may well be of different species, when it comes to our ability to understand each other. I watch protestors clash with armed riot police and I see two different kinds of animals fighting for territory, whether it be physical, or purely emotional.
So when we have concluded that we really do understand someone else, perhaps all we've done is taken a small step backward; reverted to our own systems, and awkwardly pressed the pieces into spots that only we believe they fit into.
Ludwig Wittgenstein said that if a lion could talk, we'd never understand it. I spent some time thinking about what this means not about the animal, but about humanity. I think the idea is that different creatures simply think and communicate under different systems, such that ideas and communications aren't translatable the way our human languages are.
Perhaps we take for granted a little too heavily the translatability of human language, especially over history. Sometimes when I'm deep into Aristotle's or Socrates' work, I suddently get the impression that how they viewed the world was so completely different that no amount of reading on my part would ever lead me to an understanding of it. What does it feel like to believe that the earth is the literal center of the universe?
I don't know any better than a lion does. And this is the point; humans themselves may well be of different species, when it comes to our ability to understand each other. I watch protestors clash with armed riot police and I see two different kinds of animals fighting for territory, whether it be physical, or purely emotional.
So when we have concluded that we really do understand someone else, perhaps all we've done is taken a small step backward; reverted to our own systems, and awkwardly pressed the pieces into spots that only we believe they fit into.
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