truthlover:
anecdotes can establish there's something to look at and discuss.
I agree. I don't see why anyone should have a problem granting this.
You've been careful in your delimitations. You don't argue that anecdotal evidence should be accepted as valid evidence for this or that hypothesis.
You
do argue that the widespread presence of anecdotes means we have something to explore. And we do.
We have the stories themselves. We may ask who tells the stories, what common features they exhibit, how they differ from one another, and where they originate. The anecdotes are
themselves a phenomenon and can thus be an object of study.
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Edited by Archer Opterix, : clarity.
Archer
All species are transitional.