August 24, 2004

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.

  1. You see, I was (or might have been) ugly.
  2. However, what it might appear to others that I was (or might have been), was handsome.
  3. So what it might appear to others that I was (or might have been) was not, was ugly.
  4. Now, as it happens, my eyes are blue.
  5. But if I hadn't been as I was, they would have been brown, since most people in my family have brown eyes.
  6. And presumably, if I hadn't been as I was, what I would have been would have appeared to others to be different. 
  7. Specifically, my eyes would have been brown: perhaps it might have appeared to others that I was ugly, perhaps handsome.
  8. Who knows?
  9. 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.
  10. 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?
  11. Eyes apart, I would (or at least might) have been handsome.
  12. Thus, eyes apart, what it might appear to others that I was (or might have been) is ugly.
  13. And, eyes apart, what it might appear to others that I was (or might have been) was not is handsome.
  14. 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.
  15. 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