this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2024
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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (10 children)

Zhuangzi and Huizi were strolling along the bridge over the Hao River. Zhuangzi said, “The minnows swim about so freely, following the openings wherever they take them. Such is the happiness of fish.”

Huizi said, “You are not a fish, so whence do you know the happiness of fish?”

Zhuangzi said, “You are not I, so whence do you know I don’t know the happiness of fish?”

"I'm not you", said Master Hui, "so I certainly do not know what you do. But you're certainly not a fish, so it is irrefutable that you do not know what the joy of fishes is."

"Let's go back to where we started," said Master Chuang (Zuangzi). "When you said, 'How do you know what the joy of fishes is?' you asked me because you already knew that I knew. I know it by strolling over the Hao."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (4 children)

That's an asnine argument. A human being having an intuitive understanding of another human being's experience is more reasonable than a human being having an intuitive understanding of a fish's experience. Even if we don't account for this, it's reasonable to expect that people are able to explain how they know things.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm guessing the point of the story is to motivate the discussion on the subject of knowing another beings's experience. Unfortunately it's written in the ancient Chinese philosophy style, very foreign to modern audiences. Maybe it sounds better in the original Chinese, idk.

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