Q&A: The Stone Parable
The Stone Parable
Question
Hi Rabbi Michi,
You wrote in the stone parable that the traveler facing the stones has two possibilities: a guiding hand or chance.
My question is: if a person arranged the stones but made a mistake—for example, he wanted to write “Hi, peace” and it came out “Scotland”—would that count as chance?
A better example might be Coca-Cola: can one say it was created by chance, since at first it was meant to be a medicine, or is it still considered planned by the person who created it? (Again, because he actually meant to create a medicine.)
Thank you very much
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. Is this a question about the dictionary definition? Decide for yourself what you think the word “chance” means and answer it on your own. If you’re asking this with respect to some practical implication, please specify it, and then maybe it will be possible to discuss.
Discussion on Answer
You weren’t any more precise here. Obviously there is a case where the planner created by accident. That is a simple factual claim. What is the question?
Is there a case where there are more than 2 possibilities?
And if so, how does that affect Richard’s parable / what it stands for?
Suppose a person planned to write “peace” with the stones, and it came out “Scotland” — does that affect the traveler? Because seemingly it changes the situation.
Correct me if I’m wrong?
I don’t understand what you want. Repeat his argument and tell me whether in your opinion it affects it or not (hint: no). Then if you have a question, ask.
Okay, I understand. Suppose I’m the traveler and I saw the sign that was planned by someone and it says “peace”; I simply wouldn’t rely on it and would wait for the announcer, so there’s no difference here.
As for what the parable stands for, how am I supposed to know that God really planned the senses and brought them into being accurately?
The claim you raised in The First Existent is that maybe He did this in order to confuse us, and even if so we have no way of knowing.
Does that affect or change anything in our approach to the relationship between cognition and reality?
You’re not supposed to. That is the meaning of a defeater argument or a theological argument. I explained this before. See in Two Wagons in the note, and in the fourth notebook (fourth talk in The First Existent) at length.
Sorry for not being precise. My question was whether there could be more than 2 possibilities?
For example, is there a planner who created intentionally, and a planner who created by accident—are those 2 different possibilities?
Because if so, then there are supposedly more than 2 possibilities.