John F. Sowa wrote:
> Wacek,
>
> > Some progress has been made, though. Aristotle claimed
> > -- according to Russell, as far as I know -- that women
> > have fewer teeth than men.
>
> Following is a review of a book about Aristotle's comments
> on women (or females of any species):
>
> http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2004/2004-09-19.html
> Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.09.19
>
> I would guess that he actually did the test, but the man he
> examined happened to have fully developed wisdom teeth, but
> the woman didn't.
>
> You can find lots of very good examples as well as those
> "howlers" in Aristotle's writings. Among the better ones
> is his conclusion that sponges are animals, not plants.
>
> An excellent example of experimental method is his study of
> embryos -- by starting with 30 chicken eggs, breaking open
> one each day, and describing how the embryo develops.
>
> In any case, the primary role of philosophy is not to
> accumulate facts and theories, as in science, but to develop
> methods of conceptual analysis. For that purpose, it's hard
> to find more instructive examples than the writings of Plato
> and Aristotle.
>
>
well, if aristotle's grounds to make the general claim that women have
fewer teeth than men was an observation of *one* man (and at least one
woman, i guess), then it is not the best example of how to do science.
perhaps it is a good example of how philosophers do their work (i hope not). (01)
vQ (02)
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