Quote by Aristotle ~ benefits of the author over the critic

 

Aristotle's Dictum," John Warwick Montgomery in History and Christianity (p. 29) summarizes his dictum as

 

“The benefit of the doubt is to be given to the document itself, not arrogated by the critic to himself."

 

--- Aristotle

 

In other words, the author probably knows more about the event than the critic does, and so we should allow him the benefit of the doubt unless we have clear evidence to the contrary.