(September 23, 2021 at 5:35 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: ^^^
Agreed. Plato wasn't an empiricist. If Brian37 wanted to criticize someone for being a "shitty scientist," he might have a go at Aristotle.
@Brian37
I take issue with calling Plato's work "mental masturbation." Plato was incredibly thoughtful and insightful. Sure, he was wrong about some things. But, I don't think Plato ever said he was right about everything, nor did he think his errors shouldn't be corrected. He made a damn good attempt at the truth and hit the nail on the head quite regularly. That's not mental masturbation. That's good philosophizing.
He was very insightful. But by comparison of what we know today, it was merely guessing.
Anyone can look up at the sun and call it the sun, but that did not mean back then they knew what the sun actually was made of.
I will defend Plato tooth and nail on his arguments of questioning everything. But he got lots wrong as well, and his idea of "essence" was his biggest mistake.
