le penseur

"As jumping a stream in order to find out if it is jumpable is on a
higher sophistication-level than jumping to get to the other side so
exploring is on a higher sophistication-level than piloting, which in
its turn is on a higher sophistication-level than following a pilot's
lead. Similarly, Euclid trying to find the proof of a new theorem is
working on a higher accomplishment-level than Euclid trying to teach
students his proof when he has got it; and trying to teach it is a
task on a higher accomplishment-level than that on which his students
are working in trying to master it.

None the less it may still be true that the only thing that, under its
thinnest description, Euclid is here and now doing is muttering to
himself a few geometrical words and phrases, or scrawling on paper or
in the sand a few rough and fragmentary lines. This is far, very far
from being all that he is doing; but it may very well be the only
thing that he is doing. A statesman signing his surname to a
peace-treaty is doing much more than inscribe the seven letters of his
surname, but he is not doing many or any more things. He is bringing a
war to a close by inscribing the seven letters of his surname." -
Gilbert Ryle, 1968