Stephen Black wrote:
>
> In the year of our Lord 1432, there arose a grievous quarrel among the
> brethren over the number of teeth in the mouth of a horse. For
> thirteen days the disputation raged without ceasing. All the ancient
> books and chronicles were fetched out, and wonderful and ponderous
> erudition such as was never before heard of in this region was made
> manifest. At the beginning of the fourteenth day, a youthful friar of
> goodly bearing asked his learned superiors for permission to add a
> word, and straightway, to the wonderment of the disputants, whose deep
> wisdom he sore vexed, he beseeched them to unbend in a manner coarse
> and unheard-of and to look in the open mouth of a horse and find
> answer to their questionings. At this, their dignity being grievously
> hurt, they waxed exceeding wroth; and, joining in a mighty uproar,
> they flew upon him and smote him, hip and thigh, and cast him out
> forthwith. For, said they, surely Satan hath tempted this bold
> neophyte to declare unholy and unheard-of ways of finding truth,
> contrary to all the teachings of the fathers. After many days more of
> grievous strife, the dove of peace sat on the assembly, and they as
> one man declaring the problem to be an everlasting mystery because of
> a grievous dearth of historical and theological evidence thereof, so
> ordered the samewrit down.
>
> Francis Bacon, 1592
>
> (I can't identify the particular work this reference refers to)
Yes it is Bacon. Hergenhan's History (2nd Ed) of Psych. has this reference
for the Bacon quote:
Baars, B.J. (1986) _The cognitive revolution in psychology_ New York.
Guilfros Press.
I love the horse story - it's alot of fun. I do it every year in our History
course. But the story has 'straw man' written all over it, doesn't it?
--
* John W. Kulig, Department of Psychology ************************
* Plymouth State College Plymouth NH 03264 *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://oz.plymouth.edu/~kulig *
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* "I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest *
* parts of the earth" - Psalm 139 *
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