![]() ![]() No one wise man here is wise enough, and even assembling all of their observations into a single reality still falls short of the goal of absolute understanding. The result is a series of rather humorous descriptions wherein each man ascertains the entirety of the elephant based on touching its parts. Saxe’s insight, however, is that given such a plethora of exemplary and earnest exchange of ideas, it is evident that human understanding, while impressive in its reach and its breadth, is limited. The poem The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe depicts the actions of six blind men in their attempt at trying to discern what an elephant is like based on their perceptions. Saxe was writing in an era that witnessed an explosion in the sciences as a culture began to appreciate the rewards of investigation and observation. Each blind man and each assertion is allowed its moment each is allowed to stand. Video reading 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. Each blind man is given the opportunity to expound of his particular insight-no observation is challenged in the poem, and no one wise man is exposed as a fool. ![]() ![]() The premise of the poem is not to dismiss the attempts to perceive a reliable and verifiable truth in a world full of confusing and often contradictory phenomena. The blind men in the poem are wise, given to analysis rather than emotion, curious, and confident in their ability to divine certainty and truth through the rigorous and careful application of observation. ![]()
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