I need a sister, and there is nothing wrong in that.

I need a sister, and there is nothing wrong in that." "You are not interested in the girl but in her brother, who is an attractive gentleman," her grandmother remarked. "That is not fair! " cried Warqa. "I have only seen him twice, quite by chance. I beg you to stop imagining things. " The next day Miyad waited for Warqa to come, and when she saw her, she noticed how pale Warqa looked. "What is wrong?" she asked. "Nothing. I was up late last night.

Please continue with your talk." "You are in a hurry, it seems. Has anything happened? " "No, nothing," Warqa replied. Dr. Miyad began, "The empiricists don't even believe in authenticated matters." "What are authenticated matters?" asked Warqa. "Matters, which are true beyond a doubt. In fact, any authentic fact needs a preceding fact and so on, until we come to a starting point. Otherwise, we can't receive any kind of knowledge." "How is that?

" "Suppose you want to become acquainted with a particular girl and you want to know about her conduct. Where would you get such information? "I 'd ask her friends," said Warqa. "You may contact a friend of hers indirectly, through someone else. It is logical that your enquiry might end with someone you know. This is the starting point." "Quite right," Warqa admitted. "This is the case with authenticated matters.

There should be a starting point well- known, with the least experimenting." Warqa then asked, "Can you give me an example?" "For instance, if we say that a part of a book is smaller than the whole, someone might say: 'How do you know?' This is quite simple. Since we refer to a part, surely there must be a whole." "If simple facts need no experiments, since the brain comprehends then," Warqa asked, "then why can't a person learn these facts at an early age?

Why can't they be retained until old age?" Dr. Miyad explained, "There are two types of mental faculties: reasoning comprehension and imaginary comprehension. We can perceive such things as water, flowers, gold and so on, through our senses." "And we can imagine unreal objects, such as a sea of milk or a mountain of mercury," added Warqa. "Here comes the perceived information through the power of the senses. But, again, we depend on previously received information.

We cannot say, for example, there is a date palm without imagining the date tree first. It depends on imaginative perception. That is why a child cannot comprehend authentic information; he cannot imagine the actual thing." "It is so…