Talk:Black cat analogy

Another view

I'd say philosophy was more like being in a dark room and discussing the possible existence of black cats... Peridon (talk) 21:22, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

This was made famous in joke form by Dave Allen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS3BZs5fx3Q could this be added to an "in popular culture" section? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.112.128.92 (talk) 16:57, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

Proverb

The proverb "In the dark, all cats are grey" exists also in German: "Nachts sind alle Katzen grau" (At night, all cats are grey)

Maybe so, but Wendy Doniger, who is the source currently used here, says only that [some] Germans made the transition from cats to cows. Perhaps some Germans didn't. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:16, 26 July 2019 (UTC)

Use in (post) Soviet context

Like the comment by 23.28.85.229 on deletion nomination, I am not convinced this is really notable. Or even if it is a metaphor originating from philosophy – at least in the context of Soviet union (and Putin’s Russia), it seems to be used quite frequently:

1. I first saw it attributed to Confucius in Tengiz Abuladze’s 1984 cult film Repentance: “It is difficult to catch a cat in a dark room, especially when it is not there.” by the protagonist Varlam Aravidze (a parody of soviet and nazi leaders), who added “Our task is undoubtedly hard – but nothing is impossible for us. If we really want, we will catch a cat in a dark room, even when it is not there.”

2. Russian minister of defense Sergey Shoygu said in connection with the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea: “As for the allegations about the use of Russian special forces in the events in Ukraine, I will only say one thing: it is difficult to look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there. Especially if this cat is smart, courageous and polite.”

3. In 2018, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s representative to the United Nations used the proverb in a tweet, referring to the Skripal poisoning: «Confucius: “It’s very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no black cat”. Applies to both - alleged “Russian aggression” against Ukraine and mysterious “Novichok”.»

4. In 2019, reacting to the conclusions of Mueller report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted “a Chinese philosopher who said, ‘It is hard to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there”

—JTojnar (talk) 12:03, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

References