Children engaging in scientific reasoning, as recorded roughly 2500 years ago in a Daoist (not Confucian!) text:
Confucius was heading east when he came across two little boys arguing, and asked what was going on.
One boy said: "I think that at sunrise, the sun is nearer to us, and at noon, it is further away."
The other boy said: "I think it is farthest at sunrise and nearest at noon."
The first boy said: "At sunrise it is as big as an umbrella, and at noon it's more like the lid of a jar. Doesn't that show when it is near and when it is far?"
The other boy said: "At sunrise it is chilly, and at noon water warms to the touch. Doesn't that mean it's near when it's warm and far when it's cool?"
Confucius had no idea who was right. The little boys laughed at him: "We thought you were supposed to be smart, loser!"
Source text: ctext.org/liezi/tang-wen#n3747…
Translation note: I'm getting "loser" from how they boldly address him with the inferior-thou pronoun, which is what Confucius would use to address *his* students.
![(long text warning)
The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima.
Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, "There are not any good horses in the empire." Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?](https://fedi.ml/photo/preview/640/698069 "(long text warning)
The Tang dynasty poet Han Yu (768–824) wrote a well-known fable about Bole and qianlima.
Only when an era has a man like Po-le are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are common, but Po-les, on the other hand, are rare. Thus even though there may be famous horses, they only become abused under the hand of the man to whom they are enslaved, and they die in the stables—never having been recognized as thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses at times consume a whole dan [approximately 60 kg] of grain in one feeding. If the one who feeds them does so without knowing they are capable of a thousand-li, then even though they may have the ability to go so far, they, having not eaten their fill, are lacking in strength, and their talent and beauty are not apparent. Moreover, if one wanted to rank them with regular horses, they would not make the grade. How then could they be asked to have the ability of going a thousand li? They are whipped inappropriately and fed in such a way that they cannot fulfil their innate talents. Yet when they cry out, they cannot be understood. With whip in hand the man approaches them and says, \"There are not any good horses in the empire.\" Alas! Is it that there are really no good horses or is it perhaps that there is no one who really understands horses?")
!["One of my favourite aspects of [NVDA] was that its entire interface was localised... I was surprised by its small size and very fast operation. Isn't this a wonderful thing? Take it anywhere and just connect".
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Harun
Türkiye
(Black text on white with NV Access logo top and purple sunburst designs in the background)](https://fedi.ml/photo/preview/640/668382 "\"One of my favourite aspects of [NVDA] was that its entire interface was localised... I was surprised by its small size and very fast operation. Isn't this a wonderful thing? Take it anywhere and just connect\".
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Harun
Türkiye
(Black text on white with NV Access logo top and purple sunburst designs in the background)")
