Â鶹´«Ã½

From E. Paull

J.N. Chubb, criticising the Â鶹´«Ã½ for using the promotional line “You are what you know” maintains that “It is truer to say you are what you do” (Letters, 3 December).

Bertrand Russell once spoke of the “egocentric predicament”, the problem in the theory of knowledge arising from the fact that the individual subject is confined to the closed circle of his own current sensations, and has no way of reaching knowledge beyond them.

This strict empiricism supports Â鶹´«Ã½’s “You are what you know”, and rules out J. N. Chubb’s “You are what you do”, with its assumption of “other people” who give “feedback on the utility and truth of your ‘knowledge'”.

For the purpose of this letter I am assuming the existence of the Â鶹´«Ã½ and J. N. Chubb, even though they may not exist outside my mind.