Chapter 23　Thoughts for Thinkers

Suppose you were a sculptor and wanted to make a statue expressing thought. Thought is an idea.In grammar we would call it an abstract noun.How, then, could a sculptor make as solid a material as bronze or marble represent an abstract idea like thought?

Of course a sculptor could make a statue of a person sitting as one sits when thinking. He could label this statue Thought, but without the label it might just as well be Sleep or Rest or Fatigue.

The Greeks solved the problem in their own way by imagining a goddess of thought or wisdom and then making a statue of the goddess. The statue would look wise, but it would still be just a likeness of a goddess, not of thought.Any thoughtful or wise-looking woman might serve as the model.

Let's try another way. A person who does a lot of thinking is generally able to think easily.Often, if he is a very wise and thoughtful person, you may not see him thinking at all.He would probably not look as if he were thinking because he could think so easily.He thinks with his brain and not with his muscles.

But watch a child who is not very good at math trying to do a math problem. He does not think easily.He sticks out his tongue.He twists his legs about his chair.He bends his head to one side.He holds his pencil so tightly his fingers hurt.You can see him thinking