and theologian Thomas Aquinas expressed it thus: Quidquid recipitur per modum recipientis recipitur; whatever one perceives is perceived in terms of one’s presuppositions.) If this holds for modern writers and teachers, it holds all the more so for ancient writers and their modern readers. The problem is rooted in what social psychologists call “selective perception.” Selective perception is the tendency to interpret what others say in terms of one’s existing attitudes and beliefs. While selective