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he don't know
(quokk.au)
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this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2025
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PhilosophyMemes
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ME: Aw, hey, don't say that. You know things.
SOCRATES: Oh really? You seem well informed about me. Tell me, what is it that I know?
ME: Well, uh, you know that's a tree, right?
SOCRATES: Do I? What makes you confident that I know that?
ME: Uh, you know, you can see that it's shaped like a tree...
SOCRATES: Perhaps, but don't you think that other things could be shaped like trees, sometimes?
ME: Uh... like what?
SOCRATES: Hey, I'm asking the questions here, wise guy! Anyway, you seem to know a lot about trees, can you tell me how to know the difference between a tree and a large bush?
ME: Well I'm actually not, like, a botanist...
SOCRATES: So you don't know? But you seemed so confident that I knew! Perhaps it's not trees you're well informed about, but knowledge itself? Tell me, what does it mean to know something?
ME: *epistemological stammering*
Aristophanes: Think normally, ya weirdo!
Diogenes: presents a wooden back scratcher behold a tree
For those curious: a tree has one central stem, in bushes all branches are basically the same
Are there species most people think are bushes, but are really trees?
The line between "tree" and "non tree" is quite vague
Is a palm tree a tree? Depends on the definition you use
But that's beside the point. A palm is far from a bush. The line between bush and tree is quite clear and intuitive
At the same time, I have a very bush-like palm thingy in my garden that if trimmed right can be made into a small palm tree. They're a protected species though, so I just trim it a bit
We have a good intuition on the difference between tree and bush. It's rather that species can grow as tree or bush depending on subspecies or environment. Trees aren't closely related too each other but an evolutionary strategy that developed many times independently