The Elephant is the philosopher who apprehends wholes. Indian philosophy's favourite error is mistaking a rope for a snake, and the Elephant would rather make that mistake than miss the animal altogether. It's also what I call the midwife of a planetary constitution.
How the word moved
In January 2024 the Elephant was one of three types I added to Justin Smith's six, and it was already Socratus's old metaphor for the wisdom of the whole. In February 2026 I made it the midwife of a planetary constitution. By July 2026 it had become one of the new epistries. Not bad for a parable about blind men.
In my words
"Socratus has always used the metaphor of the Elephant to denote the wisdom of the whole that's greater than the wisdom of its parts ..."
from Apprehending our Age, 29 Jan 2024
Related
- Inherited from Justin E. H. Smith - It supplements his six types.
- Related Planetary Steward - The steward combines the Elephant with its siblings.
- Related Planetary Constitution - The Elephant is its midwife.
- Related Connector - It's a sibling type.
- Related Architect-Designer - It's a sibling type too.