Str. But whereas some appear to have arrived at the conclusion that all
ignorance is involuntary,
and that no one who thinks himself wise is willing to learn any of those things
in which he is
conscious of his own cleverness, and that the admonitory sort of instruction
gives much trouble
and does little good-
Theaet. There they are quite right.
Str. Accordingly, they set to work to eradicate the spirit of conceit in
another way.
Theaet. In what way?
Str. They cross-examine a man's words, when he thinks that he is saying
something and is
really saying nothing, and easily convict him of inconsistencies in his
opinions; these
they then collect by the dialectical process, and placing them side by side,
show that
they contradict one another about the same things, in relation to the same
things, and
in the same respect. He, seeing this, is angry with himself, and grows gentle
towards
others, and thus is entirely delivered from great prejudices and harsh notions,
in a
way which is most amusing to the hearer, and produces the most lasting good
effect on
the person who is the subject of the operation. For as the physician considers
that the
body will receive no benefit from taking food until the internal obstacles have
been
removed, so the purifier of the soul is conscious that his patient will receive
no
benefit from the application of knowledge until he is refuted, and from
refutation
learns modesty; he must be purged of his prejudices first and made to think
that he
knows only what he knows, and no more.
Theaet. That is certainly the best and wisest state of mind.
-Plato "Sophist"
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