“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”

Socratic Discussion Guide

Discussion Questions
1. Why is complexity often mistaken for profundity? How are they different, and how do we avoid
this mistake?
2. What is the difference between perceiving something and seeing it? How can one hold something
too close to see it?
3. How do you know the stars if you can't look directly at them?
4. What does Dupin mean by “The depth lies in the valleys where we seek her, and not upon the
mountaintops where she is found”? Is his idea correct? Why or why not?
5. Why shouldn't one reject ideas “on account of apparent impossibilities”? How do we evaluate
possibilities, if what is apparent isn't necessarily real?
6. How does Dupin's belief about certainty and knowledge impact his ability to know things? How do
certainty and knowledge relate?
7. What is “honor” and why would honor would compel the sailor's confession?
8. What are the dangers of being “all head and no body” when attempting to discover truth? How
does one avoid this?

Post Discussion Questions

1. Why do some people like crime stories? Should they dwell on such things? Why or why not?
2. Should we enjoy mysteries that are merely complex? Why or why not?
3. What have you mistaken for profound that is instead merely complex? How do you tell the
difference? How do you avoid this mistake?
4. What have you held too close to see? How does one avoid this?
5. What have you mistaken for abstruse when it was really unusual, and vice-versa? How do you tell
the difference?
6. What do you make of the epistemology presented in the story? Is it a reasonable way to discover
truth?
7. What is your nail in the window; i.e. how have your own presuppositions caused you to see
impossibilities where none lie? How does one avoid this?
8. Why does honor not compel all to confess?
 Notes on the Text
• Achilles hides among women refers to the story of Achilles disguising himself as a girl to hide in
the court of the king of Skyros. This story is not included in early copies of The Iliad, but is
elaborated upon in later versions and further tellings of the life of Achilles.
• Recherche is French for researching or investigative.
• Quondam is Latin for former, so a quondam cobbler is a former or retired cobbler.
• To be Pasquinaded is to be ridiculed or satirized; it comes from “Pasquino,” a statue in Rome
upon which anonymous criticisms were affixed.
• Et id genus omne is Latin for “and everything of that sort.”
• Stereotomy is the art of skillfully cutting three-dimensional objects into shapes, such as cutting
stones to fit together into an archway.
• The theories of Epicurus Poe refers to in the story are his atomic theories; namely, that all matter
is made of atoms, which have consistent shape, size, and weight and are constantly in motion, and
which cannot be broken down into smaller parts. Poe notes that Epicurus' “guesses” are
remarkably close to modern atomic theory.
• Perdidit antiquum litera prima sonum is Latin and comes from Ovid's Fasti,; it is translated “He
has ruined the sound with the first letter..”
• Je les menagais is French for “I dealt with them.”
• Supererogation is doing more work than required.
• A posteriori is a common philosophical term meaning, literally, “from the later;” a posteriori
knowledge is that which comes from empirical evidence (evidence which can be obtained from
observation) or past experience. This is differentiated from a priori knowledge (“from the earlier”),
which comes from logical deduction or other logical means independent of experience. This can be
remembered simply as a posteriori is after experience; a priori is prior to experience.
• Neufchatelish refers to the Norman town of Neufchatel-en-Bray (incidentally known for its
cheese-making).
• Laverna was the Roman goddess of thieves, cheats, and the underworld. She is sometimes
depicted as a head without a body.
• The final phrase 'de nier ce qui est, et d'expliquer ce qui n'est pas' is French, and means 'to
deny what exists, and to explain what doesn't.'