I realize these are rules that rarely get used, but if an experimental philosopher had an apprentice/lab assistant, would that assistance follow the same rues as for magical lab work (int+philosophical ability as bonus) or for craftsmen (1/2 ability as bonus)? The fact that there are no philosophical arts and thus the bonus would be the same as the assistant's lab total suggests to me that it should be the same as craftsmen, but the similarities between magical and philosophical research are expounded on so thoroughly I am not certain...
I would say as per craftsman - half ability. This brings it into line with other non-magical methods of producing special items, and prevents the numbers from getting too high - otherwise every place of learning in Mythic Europe would be turning out pairs of people capable of reverse engineering Greek fire and the finest steel in a fraction of the time it takes a solo practitioner, and disturbing the availability of alchemical produce.
good point, I hadn't considered the economics of the research side.
By the rules as written an experimental philosopher gets no bonus. Experimental philosophy can easily get out of hand even without allowing any bonus - a learning institution, whether a university or a covenant, that puts some effort into it for a few decades can produce many alumni with really high scores - and it "feels" much more in line with Mythic Europe that its application, rather than its study, should be the pursuit of the individual and not of the "workshop".
I seem to recall something about copied lab texts and trained apprentices being used to create large quantities of Greek Fire for a war, but I can't find the reference right off...
The sundered eagle page 46-7 is the section on Greek Fire in the Byzantine Empire.