For He Would Be Lion and We Be Truth Hunters
Truth Hunters Can't Leave Well Enough Alone
Sophia: Gentlemen, I’ve been contemplating the nature of truth — how pursuit itself transforms our perception, and how sometimes the subjects we seek remain elusive. Wittgenstein, you wrote, “If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.” What does this suggest about the limits of comprehension?
Wittgenstein: Sophia, it is simple. Language shapes our world. Even if a lion spoke, the structures of human thought would filter, distort, and limit what we could perceive. We are constrained by our forms of expression and understanding.
Sophia: And yet, the truth hunters persist. Even when understanding is partial, they probe, question, and illuminate. Sanderson — or perhaps Yeats — wrote, “He would be lion, and we be truth hunters.” We chase what cannot fully be captured, and in doing so, refine both our perception and ourselves.
If a lion could talk, we could not understand him.
— Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
Steiner: Indeed. The journalistic vision illustrates this precisely: “It sharpens to the point of maximum impact every event, every individual, and social configuration; but the honing is uniform.” We strive for clarity, for precise understanding, even when the subject resists full comprehension. The process is as instructive as the conclusion.
Sophia: So truth hunting is both a pursuit and a discipline. We may never fully grasp the lion, yet the act of seeking refines our observation, judgment, and reasoning.
Wittgenstein: Yes. It is a paradox: the limits of understanding do not render the pursuit futile. Rather, they define the parameters within which clarity and meaning can emerge.
He Would Be Lion, and We Be Truth Hunters.
— Yeates? Sanderson?
Steiner: And uniform honing — systematic, disciplined observation — allows us to impose coherence on chaos, to render fragments intelligible without claiming total mastery. We honor the subject while acknowledging our constraints.
Sophia: Then the lesson is clear: truth hunters cannot leave well enough alone, for the act of seeking is itself transformative. Comprehension may be partial, but insight grows with every attempt to understand what speaks, whether human or lion.
The journalistic vision sharpens to the point of maximum impact every event, every individual, and social configuration; but the honing is uniform.
— George Steiner (1929-2020)
Wittgenstein: And humility accompanies each revelation. We learn not only what can be known, but also the forms that make knowledge possible.
Steiner: In essence, the pursuit is infinite, and the sharpening of vision is never complete. Yet it is precisely this tireless quest that defines wisdom and rigor.
Sophia: Then let us celebrate the lion and the hunters alike — the unknowable and the relentless pursuit that makes our glimpses of truth all the more luminous.
The three sit in contemplative silence, imagining the lion at the edge of perception, a reminder that some truths evade capture yet reward the diligent seeker at every step.
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