Duck test

The term duck test (english duck test) describes a method of an analog definition, according to which someone is trying to understand the nature of a particular phenomenon only by its visible from the outside behaviors and characteristics and to analyze. Simply put the duck test can be described as follows: If an object looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then you can also think it's actually a duck, although it has no visible label which you as a duck referred to.

Term development

While no one deliberately uses the duck test because it is considered as an inherent sign of human intuition, the poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916) was devoted to the imagery to the underlying concept of a poem:

" When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck "

The original origin of this phrase is controversial. You could go back to the logic of William of Ockham.

Term use

U.S. foreign policy

The term is believed to become 1950 in the United States during the Cold War by Richard Patterson for political slogan. Patterson was the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala during the communist government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. He explains his vote as follows:

" Suppose you see a bird walking around in a farm yard. This bird has no label that says ' duck '. But the bird Certainly looks like a duck. So, he goes to the pond and you notice did he swims like a duck. Then he opens his beak and quacks like a duck. Well, by this time you have probably reached the conclusion did the bird is a duck, Whether he's wearing a label or not. "

" Take time, you see a bird on a farm area waddle. This bird has no label that said " duck " is. But this bird certainly looks like a duck. When he goes to the pond, you realize also that he so swims like a duck. Then he opens his beak and quacks also the same. Well, up to this moment, you're probably already come to the conclusion that the bird is a duck, whether he's wearing a label or not "

For Patterson and some other U.S. officials it looked then as if Arbenz's government undermined by communist machinations. In their view, the Arbenz'sche free press was censored, the private capitalism discriminated against, the government was incited and legal reforms such as land reform and the legalization of trade unions were dispositional characteristics of the Communists. This decision brought the influence of communism in the reign of Arbenz.

The U.S. politicians had not long be persuaded to believe that the regime of Arbenz was a communist nature, rather than to check that actually exists a communist regime and the agrarian reform drives, since such reform even with Mao Zedong's revolution in China 1949 played a leading role. The CIA was authorized only by the President Dwight D. Eisenhower to bring about a collapse of the regime in order to eliminate the communist machinations.

Philosophy of Science

The term duck test is only used in order to describe the process of attribution ( attribution ) of unknown identity based on their visible manifestations. These write-ups are based on the subjective experience of each person and are only limited suitable for scientific purposes.

Popular culture

In the movie the Holy Grail by Monty Python, there is a scene that parodies the principle of the humorously Duck Test:

A medieval lynch mob wants to burn a woman as a witch. To prove that she was a witch, a nonsense argument is built up, culminating in the statement: "If she weighs the same as a duck, she 's made ​​of wood, and, THEREFORE, a witch! " ( If it's the same weight as a duck, it is made of wood and is therefore a witch ). It follows the cinematic version of the Duck test - the woman and a large duck are placed on the two shells of a large scale. Since the woman is apparently the same weight as the duck, their fate seems sealed ( "Burn her! Burn her! ").