Stratagem 9
Original German
Die Fragen nicht in der Ordnung thun, die der daraus zu ziehende Schluß erfordert, sondern in allerhand Versetzungen: er weiß dann nicht wo man hinaus will und kann nicht vorbauen: auch kann man dann seine Antworten zu verschiedenen Schlüssen benutzen, sogar zu entgegengesetzten, je nachdem sie ausfallen. Dies ist dem Kunstgriff 4 verwandt, daß man sein Verfahren maskiren soll.
Musean translation
Machine-assisted, directly from Deussen’s German edition (1923).
Do not ask the questions in the order required by the inference to be drawn from them, but in a variety of transpositions. He then does not know where you are heading and cannot take precautions. His answers can also be used for different inferences, even opposite ones, according to how they turn out. This is related to stratagem 4: conceal your procedure.
Plain English translation
Machine-assisted, independently translated directly from Deussen’s German edition (1923).
Ask the questions in a mixed-up order, not in the order your conclusion requires. The opponent will not know where you are going and cannot prepare a defense. Depending on their answers, you can also use them to draw different conclusions, even opposite ones. Like trick 4, this hides what you are doing.
About this section
Stratagem 9 is part of The Art of Being Right by Arthur Schopenhauer. This page sets the German original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is section 14 of 43 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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