Can We Judge Without Seeing or Hearing? — Evidence Before Conclusion

In Record of Stone Bell Mountain, Su Shi asks, “Can one judge whether something exists without seeing it with one’s own eyes or hearing it with one’s own ears?” He had questioned earlier explanations of the mountain’s name and travelled by small boat beneath the cliffs at night to listen for himself. His target was not reasoning as such, but turning conjecture into a conclusion when the evidence was inadequate.

The line remains useful before forwarding a claim, judging a person or explaining an unexpected event. We can first separate what was directly observed from what was reported or merely inferred. Yet even eyewitness experience is limited by position and conditions. Su Shi’s reminder should therefore lead beyond “I saw it myself” towards multiple sources and evidence that others can test.

Source text: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/石鐘山記