In any debate, the key to creating a powerful argument is thinking outside the box. Every good debate question is one which leaves more questions than answers, making an audience uncertain about the true answer. In this week’s crucial debate, which asks if there are more legs or eyes in the world, there are several questions which may change how we view this latest topic.
When we ask ourselves, are there more legs or eyes in the world, we first must ask ourselves what counts as eyes and legs. Do we count the legs of animals and insects as well as people? What about table legs or legs on a chair? Do we count legs on inanimate objects like dolls or stuffed animals?
Similarly, we can ask ourselves what we consider to be eyes. Do we count just human eyes, or do we include animals and insects? What about potato eyes? They aren’t necessarily eyes in the way most would picture at first, but we still call them “eyes” anyway. What about eyes on dolls or stuffed animals? How much of what we label “eyes” or “legs” really count in a broad debate such as this?
Since this debate question was left so broad, it seems that our idea of eyes and legs is up for wide interpretation. So, to be safe, let’s include all things that could be considered eyes or legs—whether they are animate or inanimate—in the answer to this question. With this idea of what we count as legs and eyes more clearly outlined, the question still remains: which are there more of?
In this author’s humble opinion, it has to be concluded that there are more legs than eyes in the world. Even if we include potato eyes and the eyes of inanimate objects into the mix, legs would still win out in a final tally.
The major reason why there has to be more legs than eyes in the world is simply because legs tend to come in larger sets than eyes, and there is a wider variety of items which may be considered as having legs. In most cases where we are looking at eyes as a component of a human, animal or insect’s body, eyes come in sets of two. While there are some exceptions to this rule, eyes largely come in pairs.
In contrast, legs can come in a wider variety of sets than eyes. While they do come in sets of two for humans and some animals, many other animals have legs in sets of four. In addition, the many inanimate objects which have legs also tend to come in sets of four. Legs on tables, chairs and stools generally come in sets of four or three. Insects like centipedes and spiders would also boost the amount of legs in the world, putting them firmly ahead of the amount of eyes.
Although we may never have a true account of how many legs or eyes there are in the world, it is interesting to consider the many questions that can come from one seemingly simple debate. How would our answers change if we looked at this question differently, and which question will spark a new weekly debate? Will we ever get a straightforward answer to the weekly debate question? Readers may never find out for sure.
