The intelligibility of my chosen caption might be difficult to grasp upon first glance of it.
If taken from the light of the fact that it is a proposition that seems self contradictory but contains a possible truth or better still that it is a statement which is contrary to a commonly accepted opinion then i would say the caption is a paradox or a paradoxical statement. I actually also employed the use of a figure of speech which makes a locution or common statement produce an incongruous seemingly self contradictory effect; oxymoron. This paradoxical caption or oxymoron does not intend to serve as a bait to get people to read this article but rather it was the most precise one that rightly encapsulated every idea the writer of this work was incubating, all put together.
I must say that some would see it and be pissed off by the mere fact that it seems absurd and does not parallel common notion. But those that read through must be great thinkers, intellects and people that love cognitive rigor and stimulation.
Allow me allude to the good book ; ”And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him; lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are — northward, eastward, southward, and westward for all the land that you see I give to you and your descendants.” (Genesis 13:14). What I am really interested in here and would want to import is the fact that God first said he should look and then said whatever he shall see or as far as he can see, shall be a possession of Abram and his descendants. Seeing goes deeper than looking!
In fact to me, looking has to do with our sensation whilst seeing has to do with our perception. So would you ever be flabbergasted if a blind man should ever exclaim in your presence; ‘oooohhh I see’? Well do not be astounded at all because seeing has to do with the mind and looking has to do with the eyes so the blind man can be seeing things you are not seeing even though he has no idea of the things you are looking at.
I believe sight is not an open class concept which does lend itself to diverse interpretations but has an ideal definition and a precise lexical definition as well. Lexically sight can be said to be the power or faculty of seeing; perception of objects by the use of the eye. Well, this definition does not in any way contradict popular understanding of the word, I think it captures succinctly what almost all and sundry regard as sight even though I got it from a lexicon. But suffer me not to deploy the ideal definition;’ using the eye to sense things in the world outside that which exists inside our bodies’. But I was very glad when the same source (lexicon) gave me another meaning as ‘mental perception or regard; judgment’. For me, a blind man can have correct mental perception or judgment can be said to have sight.
Grant me the permission to introduce you to vision which is another tool the blind can use in seeing .Vision to me is about anticipating, envisaging, foresight, foreknowledge, having dexterity and fortitude in seeing beyond the immediate present especially by the use of the mind.
From the fore going am sure you would acquiesce to the fact that a person who is visually incapacitated due to inactivity or bad state of the eyes is not necessarily incapable mentally. For this reason I would say conclusively that any man who lacks vision and sight (that which regards to mental perception) is better to be labeled as ‘blind’ even though he might be seeing. Because a blind person who has vision and sight is better off than him.
ADROITNESS IN THE USE OF VISION AND SIGHT MAKES THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED MORE POWERFUL THAN THEY WHO ARE NOT BUT ARE ONLY LIMITED TO SIGHT THAT DOES NOT GO BEYOND THE USE OF THE EYE. A MAN WHO HAS NO VISUAL IMPAIRMENT AND YET MAKES GOOD USE OF HIS MENTAL PROWESS IN SIGHT AND VISION CAN HAVE THE SKY AS HIS SPRINGBOARD; HE CAN BE EXTREMELY POWERFUL.
Written by Bismark Seth Opoku
Department of Phsychology
University of Ghana, Legon
