That over-exactness of yours, which required so long a time, is by no means necessary for making the better choice.
-- You are forcible, Hermotimus! with this theory of The Whole by the Part.

Yet, methinks, I heard you but now propound the contrary.

But tell me; would Pheidias when he saw the lion's talon have known that it was a lion's, if he had never seen the animal?
Surely, the cause of his recognising the part was his knowledge of the whole.

There is a way of choosing one's philosophy even less troublesome than yours.

Put the names of all the philosophers into an urn.