You can lead a horse to water...

shosh413

So me and my brother are having a debate....

There is the well known phrase: "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink:"

my brother is saying that you can make him drink and i am saying you can't.

His reasoning is that if you deprive the horse of water for a year (and it somehow is not dead) and lead it to water, because of its instincts, it will automatically force him to do so, he will drink. My brother is saying that because the horse has no say in if he will drink or not (because of instincts), essentially, the person is making him drink. He has a strong emphasis on the instincts.

and i am saying

that although the person is influencing his environemnt to the extent that it is most likely that he will drink, it is still the horse ultimately choosing to drink on his own, despite of his dehydration.

the person is not forcing the horse to drink...

thoughts?

JustANumber85

i think even if the horse has been without water for a year and you lead him, he MAY not drink. That does not mean it is the leaders fault he wont drink.

teryx123

Your brother's calling is not philosophy. If the horse drinks of it's own free will, then it's motivations are irrelevent. If a man points a gun at you and tells you to kneel, and that you have no choice, he is wrong. No matter what the action, there is always a choice.

WorkoutWarrior76

I like getting drunk.

Molly_Maguire

Dumbest post ever! You win!

Railr0aderTony

THIS^^

clarkeje1

I agree I think the horse can choose

jofjltncb6

You've been here almost six months and yet you still believe that the MFP forums will be helpful with a question like this?

*sigh*


Great job with your argument with your brother!! I wish you nothing but success in all your fitness and health goals.*

*(c) DrMerc 2012. All rights reserved. Use of this phrase without express permission of DrMerc is prohibited. (PS: DrMerc is remarkably encouraging and supportive. You should send him a FR. You're welcome.)

amonkey794

Plenty of horses choose to "die of thirst". No one forced the horse's mouth open, poured in water, and massaged the throat until the water went down. The horse became desperate enough to just quite being stubborn and just take a drink

xiofett

I prefer the phrase "You can lead a man to logic, but you can't make him think."

cmcollins001

I was going to answer this with some logic and real thought...but then I caught one to what you're doing.

You can't make me.

shosh413

thanks for the replies everyone !! btw i totally was not trolling we were really having this argument lol- it was for fun tho