On not doing what you fail to understand a fictional duchess told you not to
Carroll's Duchess said:
Never imagine
yourself not to be otherwise
than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have
been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to
them
to be otherwise. I'll try to take her advice, as
Geoff
(later commenting "
we certainly know nothing about what it
would mean") may have done without knowing it. But it's
gonna be tough. Parsers on stun.
- You see, I was (or might have been) ugly.
- However, what it might appear to others that I was (or might have
been), was handsome.
- So what it might appear to others that I was (or might have been)
was not, was ugly.
- Now, as it happens, my eyes are blue.
- But if I hadn't been as I was, they would have been brown, since
most people in my family have brown eyes.
- And presumably, if I hadn't been as I was, what I would have been
would have appeared to others to be different.
- Specifically, my eyes would have been brown: perhaps it might
have appeared to others that I was ugly, perhaps handsome.
- Who knows?
- But let's not worry about that - we should think about other
aspects of how I was or might have been than that respect in which I
would have been different otherwise.
- Concentrating on just those aspects, i.e. everything but my eyes,
what might it appear to others that I was (or might have been) was not?
- Eyes apart, I would (or at least might) have been handsome.
- Thus, eyes apart, what it might appear to others that I was (or
might have been) is ugly.
- And, eyes apart, what it might appear to others that I was (or
might have been) was not is handsome.
- So this is what it might appear to others that I was (or might
have been) was not otherwise than what I had been would have appeared to them
to be otherwise: handsome.
- Then if I accept what the Duchess said, I should never imagine
myself to be otherwise than handsome.
It sounds like such good advice, so I'm trying, I'm really trying.
But imagining oneself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to
others that what one was or might have been was not (even otherwise
than what one had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise) is
one of those peculiar actions that is much, much harder not to do once
someone has told you not to do it. Provided you understand what they
mean, of course. The Duchess obviously realized that her command could
only be followed by someone who failed to comprehend it, which would
explain why she phrased it in such a helpfully obscure way.
Grice
in Wonderland.
Posted by David Beaver at August 24, 2004 01:28 AM