Logic And Mystery

"I find fish mysterious, especially their ability to breathe underwater. It has something to do with water passing through their gills, I know, but beyond that it gets rather hazy.

My finding fish mysterious tells you nothing much about fish and nothing good about me. You will conclude, rightly, that I have failed to look into the matter with any dedication. You will not conclude, I trust, that fish are intrinsically mysterious -- that my ignorance is no such thing but, rather, the proper appreciation of the mystery of the fish."

Probably many will instantly tell that this is a paragraph written by a British author. They have this distinctively dark sense of humour that I just adore. Many people like the British for their accent, they probably think it's "inherently funny" (to borrow a term first brought to my attention by karembu). I personally like them more for this sort of unparalleled sarcasm.

The paragraph is written by Jamie Whyte in his book Crimes Against Logic, in which he takes a stab at some of the severe logical flaws one encounters in everday arguments and debates. The book is a fascinating read both for its subject and the witty writing style of the author. This is the opening paragraph to the section dedicated to how people like to use the mystery fallacy to try and lend some credibility to concepts that are otherwise either not supported by evidence or just plain false.

Interestingly, when I tried to look up the biography of the author, Jamie Whyte, turns out he was born in New Zealand but left for Cambridge to read philosophy. He seems to divide his time now between New Zealand and London. That would either mean that something is broken with my british sarcasm detector, or else that he acquired the British sense of humour during his stay in London.

I, of course, like to believe the latter. Although I have never witnessed an incident whereby somebody "acquired" a sense of humour.

Adiós