July 12
Man is the measure of all things, it is said. But consider: then your judgement, too, is only a measure — yours, not that of the thing itself. Examine who is doing the measuring before you trust the measure.
Theaetetus (freely rendered)
Listening mode
Man is the measure of all things, it is said. But consider: then your judgement, too, is only a measure — yours, not that of the thing itself. Examine who is doing the measuring before you trust the measure.
Some judgements give themselves away through a small word. A film is too long, a flat too dark, an answer too curt. The “too” sounds as if it belonged to the thing. But it points to a limit drawn somewhere else: in your patience, in the rooms you are used to, in what you would have needed that day.
That doesn’t make your judgement wrong. Without such limits you couldn’t choose anything. Someone who grew up in a cramped flat may find a room spacious that feels confining to you. Neither of you is mistaken about your own experience.
It gets difficult when you try to find out where your limit comes from. This examination, too, is carried out by you, with the same patience and the same habits. There is no place outside them. At most you can notice the points where someone experiences the same thing differently, and not decide there and then who is right.
The answer was curt. Whether it was too curt also depends on what you actually wanted to hear.
