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Fill in the blanks with the appropriate phase/verbs/ preposition:
Read the following passage and answer questions
To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from error, but from silly error!
If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the observation yourself. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. He did not do so because he thought he knew.
Thinking that you know when in fact you don’t is a fatal mistake to which we are all prone. I believe myself that hedgehogs eat black beetles, because I have been told that they do: but if I were writing a book on the habits of hedgehogs I should not commit myself until I had seen one enjoying this unappetizing diet. Aristotle. however, was less cautious. Ancient and medieval authors knewall about unicorns: not one of them thought it necessary to avoid dogmatic statements about them because he had never seen one of them.
According to the author, what did the ancient and medieval authors feel about their observations?
