13543 - An example is not an argument

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Angeliki Papadopoulou

– Shall I give you an example?
– No!
– But why?
– An example is not an argument.
– How is this possible?
– An example is simply a degenerated thought.
– But it can illuminate a confrontation.
– And shadow a dialogue.
– Why?
– Because we are not in the context of persuasion!
– Namely?
– We are in the context of truth.
– And what does this mean?
– Rhetoric does not suffice!
– But it can do everything.
– For the non experts.
– And then what to do?
– Maieutics.
– And the example?
– It is useful only after viewing.
– And thinking.
– Otherwise it affects us but proves nothing.
– And none of them can do this.
– Only the counterexample can prove that a theory does not hold.
– I haven’t thought about it in this way.
– This is the way of logic.
– And not of the common one.
– Which is absurd.
– What strange paradox this is.
– This paradox is solving problems.
– And indeed in a rational way.
– Dialogue is not confrontation.
– And now I realized that confrontation is not dialogue.