Is the Glass Half-Full, or Half-Empty?
The Importance of Paradigm Dependence.
OCt. 12, 2010By Paul Campbell
There exists, a glass, the volume of which is exactly half occupied by substance. The age old question has been: "Is the glass half-full, or half-empty?" Theoretically this quasi philosophical question is aimed at discovering one's outlook on life or the world around them. In other words, if they view the glass as half-full, then it is indicative of a positive view, and if they view the glass as half-empty it is indicative of a negative view. But is this analysis necessarily true?
Viewpoint Dependent
One of perhaps many things that is overlooked initially by this analysis is that the solution is largely viewpoint dependent. What this means is that the question is actually impossible to answer without knowing first the previous or initial state of the glass.If the starting state of the glass, prior to its current condition of half occupied by substance, was empty, or even filled with a lesser amount of substance than it currently is, then the glass is now half-full. Conversely, if the previous state of the glass was either completely full or at least greater than half occupied by material, then the glass is now half-empty.
In other words, the half-full/half-empty question is really one about the state of change! To say that a person's answer is indicative of their view of the world is specious reasoning, since there are alternative ways of conceiving what the initial state of things was prior to their current state.
A Converse Paradigm
The glass is therefore a metaphor about a person's state of mind. However, adding the additional piece of information about the initial state of the glass will still not answer the question in such a way as to give the inquisitor a clear idea of how the individual answering truly sees the world. This is because while the intent of the question may be that “half-full equals good and half-empty equals bad,” this is also not necessarily true.How can this be? Well, the glass exists not only in its current state, and has existed in its previous state, but it will continue to exist in its future state. In other words, it exists in four (at least, length, width, depth and time) dimensions rather than just three!
This means that the intent of the state of the glass is also important (as important, and possibly more important) in addition to its previous state. For example, if the intent of glass is a collection vessel where substance is gathered or stored, than half-full is a bad thing, because the ability of the vessel to hold substance is what is valued. The remaining half that is empty is diminishing.
However, conversely, if the intent of the glass is a collection vessel for savings or use, then the content is valued rather than the space and half-full is a good thing. Therefore, whether the glass is half-full or half-empty, and whether that state is good or bad, is entirely dependent on both the previous state of the glass and the ultimate state of the glass.
What's next?
