Consider the following case: B has been taught a use of the
words “lighter” and “darker”.
He has been shewn objects of various colours and has been taught that
one calls this a darker colour than that, trained to bring an object on
being ordered, “Bring something darker than
this”, and to describe the colour of an object by saying that it
is darker or lighter than a certain sample, etc.,
etc.
Now he is given the order to put down a series of objects, arranging
them in the order of their darkness.
He does this by laying out a row of books, writing down a series of
names of animals, and by writing down the five vowels in the order
u, o, a, e, i.
We ask him why he put down that latter series, and he says,
“Well
o is lighter than
u,
and
e lighter than
o.”
‒ ‒
We shall be ast
onished at his attitude, and at the same
time admit that there is something in what he says.
Perhaps we shall say: “But look, surely
e isn't lighter than
o in the
way this book is lighter than that.” ‒ ‒
But he may shrug his shoulders and say, “I don't
know, but
e is lighter than
o,
isn't it?”
96.