And what about the rhinoceroses - are they practice or are they theory?” īERENGER: Lunacy is lunacy and that's all there is to it! Everybody knows what lunacy is. Maybe it does, but only when it proceeds from theory! The history of thought and science proves that.īERENGER: It doesn't prove anything of the sort! It's all gibberish, utter lunacy!ĭUDARD: There again we need to define exactly what we mean by lunacy. I don't give a damn about Galileo.ĭUDARD: You brought him up in the first place and raised the whole question, saying that practice always had the last word. You don't know what's normal and what isn't any more. In Galileo's case it was the opposite: theoretic and scientific thought proving itself superior to mass opinion and dogmatism.īERENGER: What does all that mean? Mass opinion, dogmatism - they're just words! I may be mixing everything up in my head but you're losing yours. ĭUDARD: You're getting things all mixed up! Don't confuse the issue. and you go on walking, and you say to yourself, like Galileo, 'E pur si muove'. They may prove there's no such thing as movement. You ought to know that.īERENGER: The problem may not be resolved philosophically - but in practice it's simple. Who can say where the normal stops and the abnormal begins? Can you personally define these conceptions of normality and abnormality? Nobody has solved this problem yet, either medically or philosophically. īERENGER: It is beyond question, absolutely beyond question!ĭUDARD: You seem very sure of yourself.

“BERENGER: And you consider all this natural?ĭUDARD: What could be more natural than a rhinoceros?īERENGER: Yes, but for a man to turn into a rhinoceros is abnormal beyond question.ĭUDARD: Well, of course, that's a matter of opinion.

Rhinoceros beckett