[T]here is a proverbial maxim which bears witness to the advantage sometimes possessed by an observant bystander over those actually engaged in any transaction. “The looker-on often sees more of the game than the players.” Now the looker-on is precisely (in Greek θεωρòς) the theorist.
When then you find any one contrasting, in this and in other subjects, what he calls experience, with theory, you will usually perceive on attentive examination, that he is in reality comparing the results of a confined, with that of a wider, experience; — a more imperfect and crude theory, with one more cautiously framed, and based on a more copious induction.
Richard Whately, Introductory Lectures on Political Economy (1832), Lecture III.
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Richard Whately
2 replies on “Richard Whately”
Guys, you need to fix this entry. The quote from Aristoteles and the spurious newline need to be remove, and the parenthetic note needs to include the Greek “θεωρός”.
I believe it has been fixed.