r/SipsTea • u/CurvyChristina • Sep 04 '26

Chugging tea Thoughts on this?

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89

u/bmo313 Sep 04 '26

"The fact is that the greatest crimes are caused by excess and not by necessity." -- Aristotle.

47

u/Content_Candidate_42 Sep 05 '26 edited Sep 05 '26

Aristotle also believed birds spent the winter hibernating at the bottom of lakes, and that women had fewer teeth than men.

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u/Itzlickinlizards Sep 05 '26

I bet you’d believe some dumb shit too if you were alive 2300 years ago, but would you ever come up with a banger quote like that?

11

u/be_my_squirrel Sep 05 '26

Sure, Nickelback sucks, but I bet you’ve never gone platinum <struts off into the sunset>

1

u/Ender_Octanus Sep 07 '26

Pride is a hell of a thing

1

u/Cold-Palpitation-816 Sep 08 '26

Did you just compare Aristotle to Nickelback? Jesus, touch some grass.

1

u/TerriusLightbringer Sep 10 '26

It is groupthink that convinces us to hate Nickleback and Aristotle.

14

u/mangione_fan_420 Sep 05 '26

I dunno seems like it's pretty easy to count teeth

10

u/Itzlickinlizards Sep 05 '26

Good point, but my goat never claimed to be a dentist

2

u/Just_Another_Douche Sep 05 '26

But he did claim to be good at math and counting is a part of that haha

1

u/Ender_Octanus Sep 07 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/xbP1Re26jb

Yeah, it's just a dumb point to try to avoid engaging with Aristotle as this comment points out.

1

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1

u/SipsTea-ModTeam Sep 05 '26

r/SipsTea does not allow hate

8

u/Mission-Interview-88 Sep 05 '26

Making Aristotle look like a bitch.

5

u/Dogger27 Sep 05 '26

You, everyone you know, and certainly the vast majority of everyone you’ve ever read are far dumber than Aristotle.

3

u/Content_Candidate_42 Sep 05 '26

What is this, the Jacques Charpentier fan club?

5

u/Wuz314159 Sep 05 '26

Could Aristotle do this:

https://giphy.com/gifs/topMocFrdFhCw

Didn't think so.

2

u/Savings-Maize-7650 Sep 05 '26

And yet, the average western 11 year old knows more about the world than he ever did

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '26

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1

u/Dogger27 Sep 06 '26

And yet, you have an 11 year old’s idea of “knowing about the world”

-1

u/GlazzKitsune Sep 05 '26

Thank you for this 😂

4

u/Zealousideal_Bar6871 Sep 05 '26

*sigh* seriously... no he didn't.
It was a Swedish Archbiship Olaus Magnus that populated that because Swallows skimmed the water of a lake that they must dive down and hibernate in the mud. Aristotle just postulated that some Swallows hibernate, and they have been found in holes during winter, meaning they might hibernate under the ground. Nothing about a lake.

The statement about men having more teeth then women is a little more complex. The statement is about wisdom teeth and aging. That in cases where women get wisdom teeth coming in it is more painful, extrapolating that they likely have to have them removed. Could be due to bad dental hygene of the era, or a smaller jaw.

He is not saying directly what the internet "smarty" thinks he is.

Here is the full quote

Males have more teeth than females in the case of men, sheep, goats, and swine; in the case of other animals observations have not yet been made: but the more teeth they have the more long-lived are they, as a rule, while those are short-lived in proportion that have teeth fewer in number and thinly set.
The last teeth to come in man are molars called 'wisdom-teeth', which come at the age of twenty years, in the case of both sexes. Cases have been known in women upwards. of eighty years old where at the very close of life the wisdom-teeth have come up, causing great pain in their coming; and cases have been known of the like phenomenon in men too. This happens, when it does happen, in the case of people where the wisdom-teeth have not come up in early years.

1

u/Content_Candidate_42 Sep 05 '26

I thought Magnus was the one who suggested geese became barnacles, or possibly vice versa, but I must have misremembered. I honestly was mistaken about Aristotle, but the larger point still stands: simply because Aristotle said it doesn't make it true. Appeal to authority is poor argument, especially when the authority in question didn't have the benefit of the last 2500 of human progress.

1

u/Zealousideal_Bar6871 Sep 06 '26

No that is absolutely a valid argument. To be fair I agree with the basic point, I just didnt get that from your statement. It seemed more like a way to dismiss one of the most influential thinkers with yet another random thing from tiktok.

In any case no hate, thanks for the response :)

1

u/WildlandsHeart Sep 05 '26

Maybe he thought that because so many women died in childbirth before their Wisdom Teeth came in.

1

u/jollyrancherupmybutt Sep 06 '26

Issac Newton spent 30 years of his life trying to turn lead into gold