Cox &Plato (was Re: [lbo-talk] putting quackery to the test)

[Carrol Cox]

[I allow that in a dialogue it's always  possible to say "he" didn't say
it. Especially given Plato's multiple forms of irony. Nevertheless.]

"Would you say a man deserves to be a physician at the moment when he
makes a mistake in treating his patient and just in respect of that
mistake; or a mathematician, when he does a sum wrong and just in
respect of that mistake. . . ." Republic, I, 340. Cornford tr.

If he wasn't a physician when he was making a mistake it wouldn't be a
mistake.

I find Plato wonderful -- but that hardly requires agreeing with him.

Carrol