作者: Indian subcontinent

 

The story of the blind men and an elephant originated in the Indian subcontinent from where it has widely diffused. It has been used to illustrate a range of truths and fallacies; broadly, the parable implies that one's subjective experience can be true, but that such experience is inherently limited by its failure to account for other truths or a totality of truth. At various times the parable has provided insight into the relativism, opaqueness or inexpressible nature of truth, the behavior of experts in fields where there is a deficit or inaccessibility of information, the need for communication, and respect for different perspectives.

 

盲人摸象的故事:從前,有四個盲人很想知道大象是什麼樣子。他們遇到一個大象商人,然後請商人讓他們摸一下大象。商人說可以啊,盲人們開始摸象。第一個盲人摸到了大象的牙齒,他說:“大象像把劍,會害人受偒的。”第二個盲人摸到了大象的耳朵,他說:“不對,大象是個大葉子!”第三個盲人摸到了大象的腿,大叫說:“你們都不對,大像是根大柱子。”最後一位盲人摸到了大象的尾巴,他說:“大像就像根草繩而己。”四個盲人開始爭吵,都說自己摸到的才是真正大象的樣子。商人看了,笑著說:“你們摸到的都只是大象的一部份而己啊。

內容試閱:

 

The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

 

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

 

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!"

 

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!"

 

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he:
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!"

 

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!"

 

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!"

 

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

 

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