Andrew Papanikitas is Deputy Editor of the BJGP. He is on X: @gentlemedic
Is it the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it? Maybe not! ‘It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it’, is likely a misquotation of the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.1 It is first attributed to Aristotle by Lowell L Bennion in his 1959 book, Religion and the Pursuit of Truth.2 The closest actual quotation, from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, argues, ‘It is right that we ask [people] to accept each of the things which are said in the same way: for it is the mark of an educated person to search for the same kind of clarity in each topic to the extent that the nature of the matter accepts it. For it is similar to expect a mathematician to speak persuasively or for an orator to furnish clear proofs!’ 3 This is arguably wisdom that all contributors to BJGP Life should live by. We want articles that are both engaging and committed to sound argument with factual accuracy. Arguably, GPs have a duty to be well- informed and to engage with society on behalf of the communities they serve.4
A global approach to holistic medicine
I am often struck by the breadth and range of articles we receive in BJGP Life. Chris Ellis reflects on his experiences as a GP in rural South Africa.5 He paints a vivid picture, both of the place and of a transcultural encounter concerning mental health. As if in reply, Ben Hoban challenges us, ‘If the only reason a doctor labels symptoms as psychosomatic is that they can’t come up with a better explanation, they might as well blame the fairies at the bottom of the garden.’ 6 Alfredo Neto and colleagues describe a project that examines the application of music to mental health across several continents.7 They ask, ‘Can music serve to engage and reduce stress and other mental health challenges of the individual and community?’
Learning from stories
“We want articles that are both engaging and committed to sound argument with factual accuracy.”
Saul Miller channels A Brief Encounter to make us laugh nervously, with a satirical short story about the plight of registrars.8 That failing a professional examination can result in not only unemployment but deportation is a grim reality. Saud Jukaku and Amrit Lamba are struck by the ways in which the automation of health care can magnify error and result in calamity.9 They reflect on one such cautionary tale, ‘The clinician in 2004 had entered [a child’s] height as 145 cm and his weight as 145 kg, giving a body mass index of 69 kg/m² for a boy aged only 11 years.’ This entry led to his tragic death.
A duty to be well-informed
Alex Burrell serves up an intellectual buffet that includes integrating health care and early years support, technostress, breast cancer screening and substance use disorder, and group cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.10
I review Medicine, Patients and the Law, an excellent medicolegal source-book that feels adversarial until you realise that, ‘medical law has developed the way it has because of the manifold manifest harms generated by negligence and malpractice, aided by a historic power differential between doctors and most patients, and latterly between patients and healthcare industries.’ 11 Emilie Couchman reviews Explaining AuDHD by Khurram Saddiq, which introduces the combination of both conditions, presenting the ‘shared and distinct features of autism and ADHD’ that he suggests ‘originate from separate yet intertwined pathways’.12 Paul McNamara and Nicholas Dunn review Netflix’s Adolescence, an unsettling reminder of the toxic effect of social media on children that is recommended viewing for GPs.13
So, is it the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it? The vibrant discussions in BJGP Life suggest to me that this misquotation is pointless at best and harmfully misleading at worst. I encourage you to entertain the ideas we publish and accept, reject, or further investigate them on their own merits. T-shirts with the above quotation should probably be recycled as tea-towels and dusters.
References
1. Sententiae antiquae. Nope, Artistotle did not say, “It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without…”. 2018. https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2018/09/22/nope-aristotle-did-not-say-it-is-the-mark-of-an-educated-mind-to-entertain-a-thought-without (accessed 12 Jun 2025).
2. Bennion LL. Religion and the Pursuit of Truth. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Co, 1959.
3. Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. London: Penguin Classics, 2004.
4. Papanikitas A, Spicer J. Teaching and learning ethics in primary healthcare. In: Papanikitas A, Spicer J, eds. Handbook of Primary Care Ethics. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2018.
5. Ellis C. The day of small things. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742773.
6. Hoban B. The psychosomatic self. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742797.
7. de Oliveira Neto A, Chowdhury AB, Dowrick C. The Music and Mental Health Project: uniting primary health care globally through music. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742809.
8. Miller S. A Medical Love Story, Season One. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742857.
9. Jukaku S, Lamba A. Clerical error, clinical risk, and the automation of primary care. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742785.
10. Burrell A. Yonder: Integrating health care and early years support, technostress, breast cancer screening and substance use disorder, and group CBT for insomnia. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742761.
11. Papanikitas A. Books: Medicine, Patients and the Law. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742845.
12. Couchman E. Books: Explaining AuDHD: Recognise It, Embrace It and Thrive With It. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742833.
13. McNamara P, Dunn N. Netflix’s Adolescence: an unsettling reminder of the toxic effect of social media on children. Br J Gen Pract 2025; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp25X742821.
Featured photo by Jasper Flintsmith on Unsplash.
