“Unlike his more elitist tutor Plato, who was skeptical about the intelligence of the poor and working classes, Aristotle frequently stresses that the greatest experts on any given topic are likely to be those people with common sense who have accumulated experience of it, however low their social status. In the Nicomachean Ethics he admits that people who have considerable hands-on experience of an activity may be much more useful than those who have studied its underlying theoretical principles. He suggests that there were dietary advisers in ancient Greece who never went to the market or did any cooking. “If a man knows that light meat is easily digested and therefore wholesome, but does not know what kinds of meat are light, he will not be so likely to restore you to health.†It will be the cook, not the student of dietetics, who is more likely to know the difference between pork belly and Hall, Edith. Aristotle's Way (p. 51). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. ”
