Nomulous Blog

(Parts one and two.)

So, is there a deep philosophical meaning to that story? Is “Why not?” as valid an answer as can be? Is it merely a story that gives people philosophical satisfaction where otherwise there would be none? Or is it the kind of story that you sort of laugh at and then forget about? That maybe gets sent around in a chain email and makes everyone with an email address feel like they have a deep philosophical understanding of life itself? Really, I have no idea. Actually the reason I am writing about it is that it rather confuses me.

I think what it really comes down to is this. The question “Why?” has no answer. It is ridiculous to ask, and everybody knows that, but nobody seems to know, well, why. It’s easiest interpretation would be “Why is everything the way it is?”. Our answer, “Why not?” is to be interpreted as “Because there is no reason for it to be any other way”.

The legend has not been confirmed as either true or false by Snopes, but I think it’s pretty obvious that it isn’t true. A degree in philosophy by writing a two word paper? As witty as this particular answer may be, there is still no way a serious university would let that happen.

One thing that leans me towards the more cynical “it’s just a story that makes people think they get it” point of view, is this, 10 awesome answers to our mysterious question. On the other hand, Wolfram|Alpha (definitely worth checking out by the way), chooses “Why not?” as its favourite (digg it).

I guess in the end its all subjective, this answer will affect each person differently, so I can only speak for myself. I guess I just like it because it actually does satisfy me as an answer to this bitch of a question.

(Part one can be found here.)

The exam time ran out, and as each student desperately scribbled their last words onto their paper, the professor toured the classroom removing exams from them without pity. As they left the room there were explosions of curses and complaints, insults to the professor, and vows to complain to the board of directors.

After they had all left, the man at the desk with an aura of wisdom about him flipped over the stack of completed exams, picked up the first one, and smiled.

Two weeks later, the results were in. The class average was 37%. Only one student had passed, the professor said. As he explained it outside of the classroom, only one man had had the guts, the wits, and the wisdom to call the professor’s bluff, to find the words that would consume the question, rather than answer it.

As the students filed into the classroom looking forlorn and distressesed, each of them looked up to the board and gasped. Written on it in enormous letters was the second shortest English question in existence. Two words, glaring down at them as if they had a personality of their own.

“Why not?”

There is an old and probably made up story about a university-level philosophy final, where every student was given a thick booklet of paper, and printed on each was no more than the shortest English question in existence.

“Why?“.

They had all been up until the wee hours of the morning for weeks beforehand in preparation for the test, reading the life works of various mental revolutionaries, memorizing textbook definitions of the philosophical jargon, and searching for long and flowery words that made them sound like they knew what they were talking about. Every face in the room had bags under the bags that were under their eyes.

Except for one tall and lanky dark-haired man, sitting cooly in the corner, seemingly deep in thought. While the others were wiping the sweat from their brows, he looked as if he were lost in some sort of metaphysical space of his own. And so he was.

About ten minutes into the exam, this mysteriously cavalier man picked up his pen, and quickly scribbled two words on the first page  of his booklet. He then got up and left, without saying a word. The other students looked at each other, dumbfounded, but concluded by themselves that he had found the exam to be impossible and ridiculous, and had simply given up rather than attempting to play their professor’s games.