as Aristotle emphasised, there are different kinds of reasoning, different kinds of knowledge, and different modes of understanding appropriate to different areas of life. We do not understand a poem as a doctor understands a patient, and that, in turn, is different from how an accountant understands a business plan. This is not a flaw in poetry, or medical practice, that could be remedied if only it were all rationalised mechanically. The arts and humanities need to remember this: they don't have to feel inferior to science, and try to model themselves on them. Like physicists, but in a quite
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