Kuvua numbi si kazi; kuu ni magawioni.

 

Kuvua numbi si kazi; kuu ni magawioni.

To draw out the line is comparatively easy (lit.is no work), the great (matter) is in the division (of the fish).

Numbi - blue lined round short fish. (blue-striped grunt)

The background to this aphorism is that when fishermen go out to sea and draw out the net or line, they often unfortunately catch a common fish called “numbi”, which is a round fish with blue lines and whose flesh has to be sold fresh and un-skinned. At the market, it will therefore appear to be a fish without scales (magamba). The problem in dividing the fish lies in the fact that selling it fresh means it goes stale quickly. Furthermore, there are more hurdles in markets serving mainly Muslims because according to Islamic sharia, only fish with scales (Samaki wenye magamba) are considered ‘halal’ to consume, see > https://rb.gy/2gfhmg. The true negative is therefore assumed, that it is ‘haram’ to consume fish without scales. This sets the stage for fishermen’s quarrels on who should take more “numbis” because often, fishermen really feel ambivalent about discarding the “numbis” as wasted effort while at the same time, they will find it hard to sell the fish due to problems of preservation and also religious sentiment where applicable. The aphorism is a reference of the probability of collecting “unwanted” things when going to gather a haul.

*This of course overlooks the fact that there are various other economic uses for fish products besides food.

Division and selection in rhetoric

Mythos is a form of communicating ideas that consists primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or sometimes tales of origins. Examples of this form include fables, legends, tales, epics, poems, hadiths, plays, psalms and can be grouped together to weave a general history, ethics, and cultural expression of a society. The history preserves memory, the ethics preserve character, while the cultural expressions preserve institutions and the emotional attachment to them through ritual. At this rudimentary level, it is difficult to scrutinize the meaning and validity of information through methods of knowledge scrutiny like epistemology. Therefore, inherently, there’s an insufficiency in how mythos can be directly utilized to manage persuasion within a civilization especially when dealing with adults. Consequently, mythos are broken down into logos, ethos and pathos.

Logos ('word, discourse, logic or reason') is a term used in philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, and theology; its philosophic connotations is that of a rational form of discourse that relies on inductive and deductive reasoning. Logic in discourse is "the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself".

The use of logos in theology is exemplified by Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BC – c.  50 AD). He integrated the term into Jewish philosophy and divided it further into two. Philo divided it into logos prophorikos ("the uttered word") and the logos endiathetos ("the word remaining within"). This division enables a half “u-turn” back to mythos since there’s no explicit way to explain “the word remaining within” except through blank speculation or allegories which induce the assumption of true or false information without direct responsibility to the speaker for explanation and verification. Consequently, it’s characteristic for religious rhetoric to switch between logic and myth in an apparently seamless manner.

Philo went ahead to personify the concept by suggesting that logos personified, means an intermediary divine being. In a departure from the Aristotelian framework that articulated logos, Philo infused the Platonic distinction between imperfect matter and perfect Form, and therefore intermediary beings were necessary to bridge the enormous gap between “God(perfect form)” and the “material world(imperfect matter)”. The logos was defined as the highest of these intermediary beings and was called by Philo "the first-born of God". In particular, the Angel of the Lord in the biblical “Old Testament” was identified with the logos by Philo, who also said that the logos was God's instrument in the creation of the Universe. This later morphed into Christianity as the bible verse John1:1 and personified as Jesus. This explains the various incoherent connotations of the term “logos” with not just logic, as first postulated by Aristotle, but also with simply “a word” and also “Jesus”.

Ethos (ethics) means 'character' that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology; and the balance between caution, and passion.

Ethos may change in response to new ideas or forces. For example, "the diminishing or abandonment of the agrarian ethos and the heightening of the ethos of industrialization". The ethos of the speaker is often defined by prior knowledge by the audience about the background and character of the speaker. The factors involved include: useful skills & practical wisdom of the speaker, general virtue & goodwill, and goodwill towards the audience.

Pathos ('suffering or experience') appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is heavily utilized in literature, film and other narrative art. A blatant, or maybe coincidental example in contemporary history is the wartime filming machinery characteristically named “British pathê”. Pathê is plural for pathos.

Emotional appeal in speech/writing can be accomplished in many ways, including:

1.    by a metaphor or storytelling, commonly known as a hook;

2.    by appropriate type of passion in the delivery of the speech or writing, as determined by the audience; for example forcefulness, calmness, shifting intonation.

3.    by personal anecdote.

Appealing to an ideal of the audience can also be handled in various ways, including:

1.    by understanding the reason for their position

2.    avoiding attacks against a person or audience's personality

3.    using the attributes of the ideal to reinforce the message.

There are, then, these three means of effecting persuasion. The man who is to be in command of them must, it is clear, be able (1) to reason logically, (2) to understand human character and goodness in their various forms, and (3) to understand the emotions - that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited. How and what to divide and select according to one’s interest and purpose is the source of contention. Recognizing differing interests and purposes is the way out of stalemate.

References & further reading

Aristotle (350 BC). Rhetoric. Translated by W. Rhys Roberts, Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.mb.txt

Frederick Copleston (2003). A History of Philosophy, Volume 1, Continuum,

Taylor, W.E. (1891). African Aphorisms: Saws from Swahili-land. Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, London.

TUKI (2001), Kamusi Ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza; Swahili-English Dictionary. Published by Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.