Blind men and an elephant

In the parable of the blind men and the elephant examined a group of blind people - or of men in total darkness - an elephant, in order to understand what it is in this animal. Each examines a different body part (but only part of each ), such as the edge or a tusk. Then they compare their experiences with each other and realize that each individual experience leads to their own, completely different conclusion.

In the parable is the blindness (or be in the dark) for not be able to see clearly; the elephant is a reality (or truth ).

The story is to show that the reality can be understood very differently, depending on which perspective one has or chooses. This suggests that a seemingly absolute truth by actual knowledge of only incomplete truths only " relative absolute " or " relative true", ie individual and subjective, can be understood.

Origin and variants

The parable seems to have originated in South Asia, but its original source is still under discussion. It was attributed to Sufism, Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism or and was used in all these faiths. Even Buddha used the example of rows of blind men, to illustrate the blind following of a leader or an ancient text that has been passed down from generation to generation. The in the west ( and there mainly in the English language ) is best known version is the poem by John Godfrey Saxe, from the 19th century.

All versions of the parable are similar and differ only

• In the number of men who study the elephant.
• In the way how the body parts of elephants are described.
• In the way, like - in terms of violence - runs the subsequent discussion.
• How (or if ) is solved, the conflict between the men with their individual perspectives.

Jainism

A version of the parable says that six blind men were asked to determine how an elephant looks like by them - every man for himself - to investigate a different part of the animal.

The blind man who touches the leg, says that an elephant is like a pillar; he who touches the tail, that an elephant is like a rope anfühle; the one who touches his trunk, that an elephant had similarity with a tree branch; he who touches the ear, that an elephant must be like a hand fan; he who touches the belly, that an elephant is like a wall constituted; he who touches the tusk that an elephant must be like a solid tube.

A wise man explains to them

The explanation resolves the conflict and is used to illustrate the principle of harmonious coexistence of people of different belief systems and to show that the truth can be explained in several ways. In Jainism is often mentioned that there are seven versions of the truth. This is Syadvada, Anekantavada, or called the theory of varied predictions.

Buddhism

A Buddhist version is in Udāna VI 4-6, said: " parable of the blind men and the elephant ." Buddha tells the parable of a Raja, who was born blind men assembled, in order to investigate an elephant.

They assured him that the elephant is like a pot (head), a soft basket ( ear), a plowshare ( tusk ), a plow ( trunk ), a granary (body), a pillar (leg ), a mortar (back ), a pestle ( tail) or a brush ( tail ).

The men begin to fight what the Raja exhilarated and the Buddha explained to the monks:

"By this now just hang them, the pilgrims or clergy; dispute because, they argue, than people who only seh'n parts. "

Islam - Sufism

The Sufi poet Sana'i of Ghazni († 1131 ) used the story in his book al - Haqiqat Ḥadīqat ( " The Garden of Truth" ) as a parable for the inability of people to understand God completely.

Jalal ad-Din ar - Rumi was a Persian poet, jurist, theologian and teacher of Sufism in the 13th century. Rumi wrote in his version of the parable of " The Elephant in the Dark" in the form of a poem Masnawī this story an Indian origin to. In his version provide some Indians an elephant in a darkened room.

In the translation by AJ Arberry, some men feel the elephant in the dark. Depending on where they feel it, they believe the elephant is a water hose ( trunk ), a fan ( ear), a pillar (leg ), and a throne ( back). Rumi uses this parable as an example of the limits of individual perception.

Rumi does not present a solution to the conflict in his version, but noted:

John Godfrey Saxe

One of the most famous versions in the 19th century was the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant ( The Blind Men and the Elephant) by John Godfrey Saxe ( 1816-1887 ).

The poem begins with

In free translation:

They come to the conclusion; that the elephant as a wall, a snake, a spear, a tree, a fan or a rope is, depending on where they have touches him. The get into a heated debate, but does not degenerate into fisticuffs, but in Saxes version of the conflict is not solved.

In free translation:

Relevance

This parable is often ( as described above ) to theological quarrels and religious incompatibilities applied. But it can be transmitted in the same way to social or scientific points of view, even if you see an elephant in its entirety if one measures out it has examined its organs and its skeleton, if you sequenced and compared its DNA has and its metabolism knows, this knowledge will always remain only a partial reality elephant, because ( a) you do not know then, for example, which has its peculiarities social behavior, how it communicates and how he perceives his environment and himself, etc. or ( b ) even if you could capture all conceivable facts and figures about an elephant, so would not be a single person - of his intellectual capacity ago - being able to comprehend the true overall picture elephant perfect.

In particular, the quantum physics is this old story a modern dimension: the wave -particle duality explains how an elementary particle - depending on the experimental set-up - both as a particle and as a wave can be described.

Miscellaneous

A processing as a picture book for children entitled The Blind Men and the Elephant (not published in Germany ) was performed by Karen brick and illustrated by Annie Mitra. Specifically, an image is worth mentioning exist in the body parts of elephants from a wall, a snake, a spear, a tree, a fan and a rope.

From the illustrator and children's book author Ed ( Tse -chun ) Young there is a picture book ( Seven Blind Mice, . Engl Seven blind mice ) with the same subject, in which the men are replaced by seven mice in rainbow colors that explore sequentially the elephant.

The American cartoonist Sam Gross has published a book that the blind men and the elephant show on the envelope, but here with the variant that one of the men touches a bunch of elephants solution. The title of the book: An Elephant is Soft and Mushy ( An elephant is soft and mushy, not in Germany published ).

There's a joke in which three blind elephants fight, just as a man look. The first touches the man with his foot and says that a man was soft and flat. The other two elephants feel the man in the same way ... and agree.

There is also a Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly in relation to this parable: Pogo Possum notes that " each of the blind men had partially right ," to which the turtle Churchy Lafemme replies: " Yes, but mostly had it all wrong."