Categorical statements

Posted Jul 28, 2010 15:46 UTC (Wed) by fuhchee (guest, #40059)
In reply to: Categorical statements by jejb
Parent article: Realtime Linux: academia v. reality

> You seem to now be saying that it's OK for the likes of Einstein and
> Planck to do this, but everyone else should be humble?

You misread. "cautioning" is not saying "it's OK".

> A corollary is a logical deduction from a proposition.

Well, thanks for the lesson, but it doesn't quite work here. This "corollary" is your main point, and it is supported by exactly three historical anecdotes. By the way, in none of those stories has there been any indication that the "should-have-been-humbler" people performed a useful service in naysaying. IOW, there has been no argument that without those "laid-down-wrong-facts", the discoveries would not have been made.

If you can't make that argument stick, perhaps your original argument/corollary is not quite as logically sound as you believe it is.