THEAETETUS [37]
we are, nothing will come to light.
Theaet. Very true; let us go forward and try.
Soc. The trail soon comes to an end, for a whole profession is
against us.
Theaet. How is that, and what profession do you mean?
Soc. The profession of the great wise ones who are called orators
and lawyers; for these persuade men by their art and make them think
whatever they like, but they do not teach them. Do you imagine that
there are any teachers in the world so clever as to be able to
convince others of the truth about acts of robbery or violence, of
which they were not eyewitnesses, while a little water is flowing in
the clepsydra?
Theaet. Certainly not, they can only persuade them.
Soc. And would you not say that persuading them is making them
have an opinion?
Theaet. To be sure.
Soc. When, therefore, judges are justly persuaded about matters
which you can know only by seeing them, and not in any other way,
and when thus judging of them from report they attain a true opinion
about them, they judge without knowledge and yet are rightly
persuaded, if they have judged well.
Theaet. Certainly.
Soc. And yet, O my friend, if true opinion in law courts and
knowledge are the same, the perfect judge could not have judged
rightly without knowledge; and therefore I must infer that they are
not the same.
Theaet. That is a distinction, Socrates, which I have heard made
by some one else, but I had forgotten it. He said that true opinion,
combined with reason, was knowledge, but that the opinion which had no
reason was out of the sphere of knowledge; and that things of which
there is no rational account are not knowable-such was the singular
expression which he used-and that things which have a reason or
explanation are knowable.
Soc. Excellent; but then, how did he distinguish between things
which are and are not "knowable"? I wish that you would repeat to me
what he said, and then I shall know whether you and I have heard the
same tale.
Theaet. I do not know whether I can recall it; but if another person
would tell me, I think that I could follow him.
Soc. Let me give you, then, a dream in return for a dream:-Methought
that I too had a dream, and I heard in my dream that the primeval
letters or elements out of which you and I and all other things are
compounded, have no reason or explanation; you can only name them, but
no predicate can be either affirmed or denied of them, for in the
one case existence, in the other non-existence is already implied,
neither of which must be added, if you mean to speak of this or that
thing by itself alone. It should not be called itself, or that, or
each, or alone, or this, or the like; for these go about everywhere
and are applied to all things, but are distinct from them; whereas, if
the first elements could be described, and had a definition of their
own, they would be spoken of apart from all else. But none of these
primeval elements can be defined; they can only be named, for they
have nothing but a name, and the things which are compounded of
them, as they are complex, are expressed by a combination of names,
for the combination of names is the essence of a definition. Thus,
then, the elements or letters are only objects of perception, and
cannot be defined or known; but the syllables or combinations of
them are known and expressed, and are apprehended by true opinion.
When, therefore, any one forms the true opinion of anything without
rational explanation, you may say that his mind is truly exercised,
but has no knowledge; for he who cannot give and receive a reason
for a thing, has no knowledge of that thing; but when he adds rational
explanation, then, he is perfected in knowledge and may be all that
I have been denying of him. Was that the form in which the dream
appeared to you?
Theaet. Precisely.
Soc. And you allow and maintain that true opinion, combined with
definition or rational explanation, is knowledge?
Theaet. Exactly.
Soc.
Theaet. Very true; let us go forward and try.
Soc. The trail soon comes to an end, for a whole profession is
against us.
Theaet. How is that, and what profession do you mean?
Soc. The profession of the great wise ones who are called orators
and lawyers; for these persuade men by their art and make them think
whatever they like, but they do not teach them. Do you imagine that
there are any teachers in the world so clever as to be able to
convince others of the truth about acts of robbery or violence, of
which they were not eyewitnesses, while a little water is flowing in
the clepsydra?
Theaet. Certainly not, they can only persuade them.
Soc. And would you not say that persuading them is making them
have an opinion?
Theaet. To be sure.
Soc. When, therefore, judges are justly persuaded about matters
which you can know only by seeing them, and not in any other way,
and when thus judging of them from report they attain a true opinion
about them, they judge without knowledge and yet are rightly
persuaded, if they have judged well.
Theaet. Certainly.
Soc. And yet, O my friend, if true opinion in law courts and
knowledge are the same, the perfect judge could not have judged
rightly without knowledge; and therefore I must infer that they are
not the same.
Theaet. That is a distinction, Socrates, which I have heard made
by some one else, but I had forgotten it. He said that true opinion,
combined with reason, was knowledge, but that the opinion which had no
reason was out of the sphere of knowledge; and that things of which
there is no rational account are not knowable-such was the singular
expression which he used-and that things which have a reason or
explanation are knowable.
Soc. Excellent; but then, how did he distinguish between things
which are and are not "knowable"? I wish that you would repeat to me
what he said, and then I shall know whether you and I have heard the
same tale.
Theaet. I do not know whether I can recall it; but if another person
would tell me, I think that I could follow him.
Soc. Let me give you, then, a dream in return for a dream:-Methought
that I too had a dream, and I heard in my dream that the primeval
letters or elements out of which you and I and all other things are
compounded, have no reason or explanation; you can only name them, but
no predicate can be either affirmed or denied of them, for in the
one case existence, in the other non-existence is already implied,
neither of which must be added, if you mean to speak of this or that
thing by itself alone. It should not be called itself, or that, or
each, or alone, or this, or the like; for these go about everywhere
and are applied to all things, but are distinct from them; whereas, if
the first elements could be described, and had a definition of their
own, they would be spoken of apart from all else. But none of these
primeval elements can be defined; they can only be named, for they
have nothing but a name, and the things which are compounded of
them, as they are complex, are expressed by a combination of names,
for the combination of names is the essence of a definition. Thus,
then, the elements or letters are only objects of perception, and
cannot be defined or known; but the syllables or combinations of
them are known and expressed, and are apprehended by true opinion.
When, therefore, any one forms the true opinion of anything without
rational explanation, you may say that his mind is truly exercised,
but has no knowledge; for he who cannot give and receive a reason
for a thing, has no knowledge of that thing; but when he adds rational
explanation, then, he is perfected in knowledge and may be all that
I have been denying of him. Was that the form in which the dream
appeared to you?
Theaet. Precisely.
Soc. And you allow and maintain that true opinion, combined with
definition or rational explanation, is knowledge?
Theaet. Exactly.
Soc.