It is clear that there is no classification of the Universe that is not arbitrary and full of conjectures. The reason for this is very simple: we do not know what kind of thing the universe is.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- All systems of classification are arbitrary because we lack a true understanding of what the universe fundamentally is.
- In plain terms
- We can't categorize the universe perfectly because we don't know what it really is.
- What can you take from it?
- Every way of organizing knowledge is limited by our lack of total understanding.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can we ever truly know the universe?
- Are categories useful or limiting?
Another view
Some classifications work well enough for practical purposes.
More from Jorge Luis Borges
These ambiguities, redundances, and deficiences recall those attributed by Dr. Franz Kuhn to a certain Chinese encyclopedia entitled Celestial Emporium of Bene…
Permalink to quote #105 Cabe ir mas lejos; cabe sospechar que no hay universo en el sentido organico, unificador, que tiene esa ambiciosa palabra. Si lo hay, falta conjeturar su propo…
Permalink to quote #107 Coleridge observes that all men are born Aristotelians or Platonists. The latter feel that classes, orders, and genres are realities; the former, that they are…
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