A postscript to my last post: John Serafin wrote: >You know, Allen, you regularly remind us not to accept >anything that someone else has written.
What I have written before is rather more specific than this, along the lines that one should not accept *assertions" just because one has read them in a book, even by academically well-qualified authors. I've never said that one shouldn't accept "anything that someone else has written". That would be absurd. If someone has written a well-argued, well-documented article or book then there may be good reason to accept a particular view that author has taken. But even then, I make it a principle to only accept the case made for the issue in question tentatively until I have had the opportunity to read a criticism of, or another viewpoint on, the position taken by the author (which, if it is important enough, I then seek out). Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London allenester...@compuserve.com http://www.esterson.org --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6614 or send a blank email to leave-6614-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
