티스토리 뷰
It was when I was ten. An elementary school teacher said
"Let me ask you. Out of sheer curiosity, why on earth did you do that? You thought you would get away with all those absurdities? I just want to understand your mind."
while scolding a kid for his misbehavior. I felt uncomfortable with her emphasis on "curiosity". Was she really curious about that? Or is it a rather confusing way of scolding a kid? How was the kid supposed to respond?
Response A
I'm very sorry. I will never do that again. *silence*
Response B
Okay, let me explain. You know, people mostly do not think consciously about everything they do. They just do it out of habit or momentum. The same was true for me. I just did, not thinking so much about why. Nevertheless, I can still try to figure out the reason by uncovering my inner subconsciousness. I'd rather prefer not to perform psychoanalysis on myself, as I know these kinds of things are not very scientific, objective, or of practical merit. However, since you say you want to understand the reason and I have no better means available, let me try. The first thing that comes up to me is that I did it because it was mentally satisfying to me. You may ask further "why was it mentally satisfying?". Then I would answer "because my brain is wired this way. It's kind of human nature." You may further ask "Are people allowed to do everything if it is their instinct?". In this case, I sense you are trying to argue about morality. I thought my task was about psychoanalysis, not about constructing a proper moral argument. I don't have much to argue about morality.
I think responses A and B are a good criterion as to whether or not the teacher had *sheer curiosity*. If the teacher thinks A is a better response, then she didn't ask the question out of sheer curiosity.
From time to time, I have seen people abusing the phrase "out of sheer curiosity" while they had no curiosity but a fixed argument of their own. The ways of testing sincerity of curiosity would be as follows. They are sincerely curious if
- they are ready to embrace answers which lack moral perspectives.
- they do not have an already existing opinion of their own that they are defending.
- they do not blame the people who are the objects of curiosity.
- and more?