315. That is to say, the teacher will feel that this is not
really a legitimate question at all.
And it would be just the same if the pupil cast doubt on the
uniformity of nature, that is to say on the justification of inductive
arguments. – The teacher would feel that this was only holding them up, that
this way the pupil would only get stuck and make no progress. – And he would be
right. It would be as if someone were looking for some object in a room; he
opens a drawer and doesn’t see it there; then he opens it again, waits, and
opens it once more to see if perhaps it isn’t there now, and keeps on like
that. He has not learned to look for things. And in the same way this pupil has
not learned to ask questions. He has not learned the game that we are
trying to teach him.
isn’t it rather that someone opens the drawer and sees
what’s there –
but doesn’t see what’s there when the drawer is closed?
such a person does know how to look for things –
but he does not confuse vision with imagination
and it is not that the pupil has not learned the game that
has been put to him –
the student is questioning the game
perhaps at the back of his mind is the question –
why should I play this game?
© greg t. charlton. 2010.
