‘Is there then
no such thing as a mental picture?’ The proper
answer to a question thus worded
would be || is: ‘People at
times have mental
pictures || images’. But this
isn't really the sort
of answer we wanted. We meant to ask: have we a
right, under the circumstances under
25
which it's normally said
that a
person || man sees || has a mental image, to say that he has such an image or
picture? Have we a right to say that
a
man || someone
marries || married money? This may mean did he
‘marry money’ or is the expression an
appropriate one. Think of the ways in which such a
question is decided? – Suppose we ask the
question:
are people murdered in
tragedies or aren't they? One answer
is: In
some tragedies some
people are murdered
& not in
others || . Another answer:
‘people aren't
really murdered
on the stage
’. || they only pretend to murder & to
die’.
But the use of the word ‘pretend’ here is again
ambiguous for it may be used in the sense in
which Edgar
pretends to have led Gloucester to the Cliff. || But
you may say: oh no!
They || some people really die in
tragedies e.g.
Juliet at the end
of the play whereas before she pretended to have
died. || ‘Oh no they don't
all pretend; Edgar
pretends to lead Gloucester to the edge of the cliff,
Gloucester is really blind.’ || 26
be a peasant, he is really
Gloucester's son.’
We
shall say the word ‘really’
,
‘pretend’, ‘die’
etc. are used in a peculiar way when we talk of a play
& differently
in ordinary life. Or:
the criteria for a man d
ying in a play
aren
't
¤ the same as
those of his d
ying
in reality.
But are we
justified to say that
Lear dies at the end of
the play? Why not. And, analogously, that
there is no reason for objecting to saying we
have || see
a mental
picture
does not mean
¤ that the criteria
for the existence of a non-mental picture are
the same as those for the existence of a mental picture.
One may even say that the former & the latter criteria need
not even be similar as one may say that the criteria
for the death of a person in the play & outside a play are
utterly dissimilar though there is of course a connection.
27