I voted up Yvain’s post, but I had a very similar interpretation to Erik’s. The literal interpretation of the statement is indeed reversed stupidity: taken literally, it’s a stupid statement. But since the maker of the statement is smart enough to know that “West should look East for enlightenment” is false, he seems smart enough that he should know that “The East should look West for enlightenment” is also false. So, either the maker of the statement is not smart, or he doesn’t intend the statement to be taken literally and actually means a different proposition through implicature.
When reading the original quote, I doubted that Steve Jobs actually believes that the West has nothing to look for in the East, or that better living conditions in the West are the same thing as enlightenment. (After reading Jobs’ actual quote, this intuition is confirmed.) The quote also presupposes that listeners are familiar with the trope that the West should always look East for Enlightenment. I think the quote should best be understood as a negation of that trope. “The East should West for enlightenment” can’t be the correct interpretation, because we all know it’s stupid. Rather, it probably means something like “What the West should learn from the East is overestimated and what the East should learn from the West is underestimated.”
This is like Einstein’s quote “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” We know Einstein is smart enough that he can’t possible agree that imagination is always important than knowledge; I’m sure if asked, he would agree that some pieces of knowledge are more important than some flights of fancy. So this statement must mean something different than what it says literally. What Einstein is really saying is something like “the value of imagination is underestimated relative to the value of knowledge.”
Yvain said: This anecdote is short, witty, flattering, and utterly opaque to reason. It bears all the hallmarks of the Dark Arts.
Actually, I don’t think it’s opaque to reason. To me, it sounds like a perfectly reasonable claim which was then “Darkened” for rhetorical effect, to sound literary and poetic, or to appeal to people only capable of Dark thinking in absolutes.
The goal (e.g. the implied proposition), and probable effect of this statement may make people think more rationally about the benefits and Eastern and Western worldviews. Yet there is definitely Dark Arts going on, because the means to doing this muddies the waters in order to sound profound.
One of the problems with using implicature in this manner is that both extreme and reasonable interpretations of a phrase like this are possible (Eastern philosophy could be anywhere between over-rated and worthless based on this statement), and you can switch between the interpretations depending on your audience.
I think this quote speaks to the problem of trying to communicate rational thinking, yet find a way to do so that doesn’t involve a million qualifiers or long words. “What the West should learn from the East is overestimated and what the East should learn from the West is underestimated” is more reasonable than the original statement, yet it just doesn’t pack the same punch. It’s unlikely to be as memorable or to have much of an impact on the thought habits of the listeners. I think many rationalists wonder what is the virtue of using rational language when it spreads 0 rational thinking to average listeners, and instead take rational propositions and Darken their communication to make them comprehensible and hearable.
I voted up Yvain’s post, but I had a very similar interpretation to Erik’s. The literal interpretation of the statement is indeed reversed stupidity: taken literally, it’s a stupid statement. But since the maker of the statement is smart enough to know that “West should look East for enlightenment” is false, he seems smart enough that he should know that “The East should look West for enlightenment” is also false. So, either the maker of the statement is not smart, or he doesn’t intend the statement to be taken literally and actually means a different proposition through implicature.
When reading the original quote, I doubted that Steve Jobs actually believes that the West has nothing to look for in the East, or that better living conditions in the West are the same thing as enlightenment. (After reading Jobs’ actual quote, this intuition is confirmed.) The quote also presupposes that listeners are familiar with the trope that the West should always look East for Enlightenment. I think the quote should best be understood as a negation of that trope. “The East should West for enlightenment” can’t be the correct interpretation, because we all know it’s stupid. Rather, it probably means something like “What the West should learn from the East is overestimated and what the East should learn from the West is underestimated.”
This is like Einstein’s quote “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” We know Einstein is smart enough that he can’t possible agree that imagination is always important than knowledge; I’m sure if asked, he would agree that some pieces of knowledge are more important than some flights of fancy. So this statement must mean something different than what it says literally. What Einstein is really saying is something like “the value of imagination is underestimated relative to the value of knowledge.”
Actually, I don’t think it’s opaque to reason. To me, it sounds like a perfectly reasonable claim which was then “Darkened” for rhetorical effect, to sound literary and poetic, or to appeal to people only capable of Dark thinking in absolutes.
The goal (e.g. the implied proposition), and probable effect of this statement may make people think more rationally about the benefits and Eastern and Western worldviews. Yet there is definitely Dark Arts going on, because the means to doing this muddies the waters in order to sound profound.
One of the problems with using implicature in this manner is that both extreme and reasonable interpretations of a phrase like this are possible (Eastern philosophy could be anywhere between over-rated and worthless based on this statement), and you can switch between the interpretations depending on your audience.
I think this quote speaks to the problem of trying to communicate rational thinking, yet find a way to do so that doesn’t involve a million qualifiers or long words. “What the West should learn from the East is overestimated and what the East should learn from the West is underestimated” is more reasonable than the original statement, yet it just doesn’t pack the same punch. It’s unlikely to be as memorable or to have much of an impact on the thought habits of the listeners. I think many rationalists wonder what is the virtue of using rational language when it spreads 0 rational thinking to average listeners, and instead take rational propositions and Darken their communication to make them comprehensible and hearable.