Blind men and an elephant

High school (ages 12+)
Thinking & Learning

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/blind-men-and-an-elephant

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the epistemological framework?Illustrates the limitations of empirical knowledge derived from singular, subjective experience
2. What is the originating culture?Ancient Indian subcontinent
3. What is the parable of the blind men and the elephant about?It is a story where blind men touch different parts of an elephant and each thinks they know the whole. The tale shows that our views can be incomplete and that we need many perspectives to understand something big.
4. Why do the blind men disagree about the elephant?Each man feels a different part—like a pillar or a fan—and believes that part describes the whole elephant. Because they each think their view is right, they argue with one another.

Epistemology: The branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge, its nature, and scope.
Empirical Evidence: Information acquired through observation and experimentation rather than theory.
Dogmatism: The tendency to lay down principles as undeniably true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others.
Cultural Relativism: The principle that an individual's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture.