the scholar's arms, a photo by the measure of mike on Flickr.
“凡以知,人之性也。可以知,物之理也。以可以知人之性,求可以知物之理,而無所疑止之,則沒世窮年,不能偏也。其所以貫理焉,雖億萬已不足浹萬物之變,與愚者若一。
《荀子.解蔽》
《荀子.解蔽》
This is from the works of Hsün Tzu (Xunzi) 21st "chapter" (or book).
“It is
inherent to human nature to possess the ability to know and to acquire
knowledge. Further, (it is fundamentally true that) it is the principle of
things, that there exist things that may be known. (I.e., Human beings may
realistically acquire knowledge of the world around them as a matter of fact.)
By use of one's nature in observation of the
principles inherent in things one may thus acquire knowledge. However, there is
no ceasing this, yet until the end of time
one may do so and never achieve completion of that knowledge. (I.e., To this acquisition of knowledge there is
no limitation, except that the knowledge extant exceeds what one may learn even
if one had multiple lifetimes to do so.) Moreover, what may be perceived in
this acquisition of knowledge through observation of the principles of nature are
in the billions (essentially uncountable), and these are ever changing such
that one may not keep up with them. To think that one may do so is
foolishness."
(The inference being that the pool of acquirable knowledge is essentially infinite, with this statement prefacing an argument that one must then set delimitation to the focus of one's efforts to acquire knowledge to do so effectively.)
(The inference being that the pool of acquirable knowledge is essentially infinite, with this statement prefacing an argument that one must then set delimitation to the focus of one's efforts to acquire knowledge to do so effectively.)
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