"Caterpillars can give you a rash."

"Really?"

"Yes. Those black ones we saw the other day? They can give you a really bad rash."

"Oh." Pause while I grok this. This is not what I know about caterpillars. But what do I know about caterpillars?

What does anyone know?

"Um, who told you that caterpillars will give you a rash?"

"C did. At school."

Now we're in more familiar territory.

"Well, what does he know about caterpillars?"

"He knows they give you a nasty rash!"

"Well, that is what C told you. But how do you know he's right?"

J mulls it over.

"I know because I also think caterpillars give you a rash."

"A ha." This is a teachable moment and I shall seize it, come hell or high water or plagues of caterpillars. "So you share his belief about caterpillars. That is not the same as knowing. All it means is his belief confirms yours. What you share is a prejudice about caterpillars."

I am sure my look, at this point, is quite self-satisfied.

"Well," Jane says, "Actually."

Uh oh. "Yes?"

"C. said he knows this because he picked up a caterpillar and it gave him a rash."

And that's direct experience, which we all know can't be gainsaid. Gotcha.

Labels: jane