universe of discourse—by the word “ knowledge.” 
May I ask a question ? 
Does anyone here know the date of the battle 
of Waterloo ? 
Pause.  (Someone—I bet—tells me “ 1815.”) 
Thank you very much.  To be frank with you, 
I knew it myself.  I did not require information on 
that particular point.  What I asked was, whether 
anyone know the date.  I felt that, if so, it would 
have created a sympathetic atmosphere. 
But since we are talking about Waterloo, we 
may ask ourselves what, roughly speaking, is the 
extent of our knowledge ? 
I have heard plenty of theories about why 
Napoleon lost the battle.  I have been told that he 
was already suffering from the disease which killed 
him.  I have been told that he was outgeneralled 
by Wellington.  I have been told that his army of 
conscripts was underfed and not properly drilled.  
I have also been told that the battle was won by 
the Belgians. 
Now, all these things are merely matters of 
opinion.  There may be a little truth in some of 
them.  But we have practically no means of finding 
out exactly how much, even if our documentary 
support is valid to establish any of these theories.  
It is, also, almost impossible to estimate the causes 
of any given event, if only because those causes 
are infinite, and each one of them is to a certain 
extent an efficient determining cause. 
Take a quite simple matter like the time of 
year.  If it had been winter instead of summer, the