Thoreau on Credulity
It is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it.
–Henry David Thoreau, Walden
[Among his many professions Thoreau could claim surveyor. Early in 1846, while he was living at Walden Pond, he surveyed it thoroughly, including measuring its depth. He related that he had heard many stories about the lack of a bottom to Walden Pond. Having debunked that common notion, he made this observation. Although it has a correct literal meaning, its metaphorical meaning has hardly diminished over time, alas. I learned this today from reading in Henry Petroski's The Pencil; Thoreau also was, at times, a pencil maker, the humble pencil being a product for which his family name was renowned.]
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on Thursday, 15 April 2010 at 23.01
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This raises an interesting question: why bother?
If one really, really believed the pond to be bottomless, one would face the problem of how long a rope to bring to the job of "sounding" it. Logically, a rope of infinite length would be required, along with infinite time, energy and patience to feed line into the pond. Even then, the pond being bottomless, all that rope and all that time and energy would be insufficient.
on Wednesday, 21 April 2010 at 10.59
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S.W., the entire point is contained in your question, "why bother?" The answer, known to parent throughout the ages, is: "Because!"
I think that was entirely the point of Thoreau's remark, it's what is thought to lie behind the intellectual lethargy of Medieval times and the "Dark Ages", and it's at the foundation of science. Instead of accepting common knowledge, one questions authority and checks for oneself. There were plenty of boating people on that lake, and most of them had rope with them. All it took was one who thought "I wonder" to test it with whatever rope he had. He might not have found the bottom with that piece of rope–but then, he might have, as Thoreau did, and discovered the reality.
on Wednesday, 21 April 2010 at 23.22
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Fair enough, Jeff. Rest assured, I'm not saying anyone should just blindly accept that the pond is bottomless. Quite the opposite. I guess I was just playing devil's advocate to arrive at a reason why people might accept the notion without challenging it.
on Wednesday, 5 May 2010 at 10.36
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People will, indeed, accept any number of notions without challenging them, even something as simple as the idea of a bottomless lake; politicians and other charlatans make good use of this fact. Thoreau would evidently agree with me that skepticism is a better attitude.