Historical philosophical, theoretical, and legal foundations of special and i...
Jumping into Disaster
1. Jumping into Disaster
There used to be all five fish in one bowl, until one day the bigger fish had started to
swim viciously in the bowl and hit the other fish. The owner decided that having the bigger fish
in a different bowl would be safer for all the fish. Each day the bigger fish grew angrier because
it could see the other fish having fun together in the other bowl. Every night the bigger fish
would try to jump out of the bowl but would hit its face against the bowl. A few days passed and
the owner, looking in both fish bowls, noticed that the bigger fish was becoming bored and
missing the other fish. He sat his cup of water beside the old fish bowl to fetch the fish net to put
the bigger fish back in its original home. While the owner was gone, the bigger fish became
angry at being alone and decided that it could jump back into the old fish bowl. The bigger fish
did just that, but missed the bowl. The fish jumped right over the old fish bowl and straight into
the owner’s cup of water. The owner came back, without even noticing the fish in its cup, and
drank the cup dry. After he quenched himself, he looked at the new fish bowl that was now
empty and was very confused. A few minutes later the owner had comprehended what had
happened and almost vomited realizing that he had just drank a fish. After composing himself, he
decided that he didn’t taste the fish anyway and now he could get rid of the old fish bowl and put
the fish in the new one instead of having two bowls. From then on he never sat his cup near his
fish bowl again.