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Did he definitely know what he had found though? If you can discover something without knowing what it is then that opens up some interesting edge cases.
by contravariant 4y ago
Did he definitely know what he had found though? If you can discover something without knowing what it is then that opens up some interesting edge cases.
- ninkendo 4y agoIt’s only interesting if you’re interested in arbitrarily narrow, contrived definitions of words that everyone is already pretty clear on.
- tharkun__ 4y agoAccording to Marriam Webster: Definition of discover transitive verb to make known or visible : EXPOSE to obtain sight or knowledge of for the first time : FIND Even in other sources for the definition it is not necessary to either be the first or to 'understand' much of what you found/did. You simply have to have done 'it'. He discovered America as in he found it for the first time for the 'western world' of that time. Whether he thought it was India or connected to it does not seem to matter. He still found it and even found it first as to the knowledge of the Europeans alive at that time. It does not seem to matter that other Europeans (vikings) had also discovered it previously. Or that Asians had discovered it and stayed on the continent (native Americans) Can you elaborate on what edge cases you mean and why that would be relevant?