4 ms·

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

pmdulaney 3mo ago
From Aristotle? Along the same lines: "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." -- Robert Frost
- notorandit 3mo ago
  Maybe, yes "maybe" Robert got inspiration from a guy who lived two thousands years earlier.
- john_strinlai 3mo ago
  >From Aristotle? apparently not, actually: "The earliest that this quotation appears in print is in Religion and the Pursuit of Truth (1959) by Lowell Bennion." or "First attributed to Aristotle in Lowell L. Bennion, Religion and the Pursuit of Truth (1959). Unfound as such. Sometimes thought (though I feel it's a bit of a stretch) a misinterpretation of Nicomachean Ethics 1.3.4 (1094b): "For it is the mark of an educated person to search for the same kind of clarity in each topic to the extent that the nature of the matter accepts it.""
bwfan123 3mo ago
> entertain a thought without accepting it Entertaining an idea is understanding it. And, there is some research to show that understanding an idea is believing it. Hence, understanding an idea and not believing it is very effortful. [1] https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/gilbert-ampsy1991.pdf https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/gilbe...
- wahern 3mo ago
  > The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. -- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up[1], Esquire, February 1936 [1] https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up (https://web.archive.org/web/20250328074803/https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250328074803/https://www.esqui...)
magicmicah85 3mo ago
I see this quote a lot and can never find it in original sources for Aristotle. It seems to be a misattribution from the foreword of Religion and the Pursuit of Truth by Lowell L Bennion https://archive.org/details/religionpursuito0000lowe/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22mark+of+an+educated%22 https://archive.org/details/religionpursuito0000lowe/page/n5...
- andsoitis 3mo ago
  Who cares? The idea is pretty powerful.

From Aristotle? Along the same lines: "Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." -- Robert Frost

notorandit 3mo ago
Maybe, yes "maybe" Robert got inspiration from a guy who lived two thousands years earlier.
john_strinlai 3mo ago
>From Aristotle? apparently not, actually: "The earliest that this quotation appears in print is in Religion and the Pursuit of Truth (1959) by Lowell Bennion." or "First attributed to Aristotle in Lowell L. Bennion, Religion and the Pursuit of Truth (1959). Unfound as such. Sometimes thought (though I feel it's a bit of a stretch) a misinterpretation of Nicomachean Ethics 1.3.4 (1094b): "For it is the mark of an educated person to search for the same kind of clarity in each topic to the extent that the nature of the matter accepts it.""

bwfan123 3mo ago

> entertain a thought without accepting it Entertaining an idea is understanding it. And, there is some research to show that understanding an idea is believing it. Hence, understanding an idea and not believing it is very effortful. [1] https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/gilbert-ampsy1991.pdf https://bear.warrington.ufl.edu/brenner/mar7588/Papers/gilbe...

wahern 3mo ago
> The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. -- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up[1], Esquire, February 1936 [1] https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up (https://web.archive.org/web/20250328074803/https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a4310/the-crack-up/ https://web.archive.org/web/20250328074803/https://www.esqui...)

magicmicah85 3mo ago

I see this quote a lot and can never find it in original sources for Aristotle. It seems to be a misattribution from the foreword of Religion and the Pursuit of Truth by Lowell L Bennion https://archive.org/details/religionpursuito0000lowe/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22mark+of+an+educated%22 https://archive.org/details/religionpursuito0000lowe/page/n5...

andsoitis 3mo ago
Who cares? The idea is pretty powerful.