Some Context for the Saying, “It’s Turtles All the Way Down”
What do we mean when we say it’s “Turtles All the Way Down”?
“Like the old woman in the story who described the world as resting on a rock, and then explained that rock to be supported by another rock, and finally when pushed with questions said it was “rocks all the way down,” he who believes this to be a radically moral universe must hold the moral order to rest either on an absolute and ultimate should or on a series of shoulds “all the way down.” — William James, “Rationality, Activity and Faith”
Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court discussed his “favored version” of the saying in a footnote to his plurality opinion in Rapanos v. United States.
“In our favored version, an Eastern guru affirms that the earth is supported on the back of a tiger. When asked what supports the tiger, he says it stands upon an elephant; and when asked what supports the elephant he says it is a giant turtle. When asked, finally, what supports the giant turtle, he is briefly taken aback, but quickly replies ‘Ah, after that it is turtles all the way down.’”
Then Sturgill Simpson released his song “Turtles All the Way Down” in 2014. John Green released his book with the same title in 2017. And the saying was in our mouths and minds again.
This all reminds me of the Iroquois origin myth:
[https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/big-history-project/what-is-big-history/origin-stories/a/origin-story-iroquois]
“Then they swam to the Great Turtle, master of all the animals, who at once called a council.
When all the animals had arrived, the Great Turtle told them that the appearance of a woman from the sky was a sign of good fortune. Since the tree had earth on its roots, he asked them to find where it had sunk and bring up some of the earth to put on his back, to make an island for the woman to live on.
The swans led the animals to the place where the tree had fallen. First Otter, then Muskrat, and then Beaver dived. As each one came up from the great depths, he rolled over exhausted and died. Many other animals tried, but they experienced the same fate.
At last the old lady Toad volunteered. She was under so long that the others thought she had been lost. But at last she came to the surface and before dying managed to spit out a mouthful of dirt on the back of the Great Turtle.
It was magical earth and had the power of growth. As soon as it was as big as an island, the woman was set down on it. The two white swans circled it, while it continued to grow, until, at last, it became the world island as it is today, supported in the great waters on the back of the Turtle.”