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And now you perceive, I said, that no such science is to be found
anywhere.
I perceive, he said.
May we assume then, I said, that wisdom, viewed in this new light
merely as a knowledge of knowledge and ignorance, has this
advantage:-that he who possesses such knowledge will more easily learn
anything which he learns; and that everything will be clearer to
him, because, in addition to the knowledge of individuals, he sees the
science, and this also will better enable him to test the knowledge
which others have of what he knows himself; whereas the enquirer who
is without this knowledge may be supposed to have a feebler and weaker
insight? Are not these, my friend, the real advantages which are to be
gained from wisdom? And are not we looking and seeking after something
more than is to be found in her?
That is very likely, he said.
That is very likely, I said; and very likely, too, we have been
enquiring to no purpose; as I am led to infer, because I observe
that if this is wisdom, some strange consequences would follow. Let
us, if you please, assume the possibility of this science of sciences,
and further admit and allow, as was originally suggested, that
wisdom is the knowledge of what we know and do not know. Assuming
all this, still, upon further consideration, I am doubtful, Critias,
whether wisdom, such as this, would do us much good. For we were
wrong, I think, in supposing, as we were saying just now, that such
wisdom ordering the government of house or state would be a great
benefit.
How so? he said.
Why, I said, we were far too ready to admit the great benefits which
mankind would obtain from their severally doing the things which
they knew, and committing the things of which they are ignorant to
those who were better acquainted with them.
Were we not right in making that admission?
I think not.
How very strange, Socrates!
By the dog of Egypt, I said, there I agree with you; and I was
thinking as much just now when I said that strange consequences
would follow, and that I was afraid we were on the wrong track; for
however ready we may be to admit that this is wisdom, I certainly
cannot make out what good this sort of thing does to us.
What do you mean? he said; I wish that you could make me
understand what you mean.
I dare say that what I am saying is nonsense, I replied; and yet
if a man has any feeling of what is due to himself, he cannot let
the thought which comes into his mind pass away unheeded and
unexamined.
I like that, he said.
Hear, then, I said, my own dream; whether coming through the horn or
the ivory gate, I cannot tell. The dream is this: Let us suppose
that wisdom is such as we are now defining, and that she has
absolute sway over us; then each action will be done according to
the arts or sciences, and no one professing to be a pilot when he is
not, or any physician or general, or any one else pretending to know
matters of which he is ignorant, will deceive or elude us; our
health will be improved; our safety at sea, and also in battle, will
be assured; our coats and shoes, and all other instruments and
implements will be skilfully made, because the workmen will be good
and true. Aye, and if you please, you may suppose that prophecy, which
is the knowledge of the future, will be under the control of wisdom,
and that she will deter deceivers and set up the true prophets in
their place as the revealers of the future. Now I quite agree that
mankind, thus provided, would live and act according to knowledge, for
wisdom would watch and prevent ignorance from intruding on us. But
whether by acting according to knowledge we shall act well and be
happy, my dear Critias,-this is a point which we have not yet been
able to determine.
Yet I think, he replied, that if you discard knowledge, you will
hardly find the crown of happiness in anything else.
But of what is this knowledge? I said. Just answer me that small
question. Do you mean a knowledge of shoemaking?
God forbid.
Or of working in brass?
Certainly not.
Or in wool, or wood, or anything of that sort?
No, I do not.
Then, I said, we are giving up the doctrine that he who lives
according to knowledge is happy, for these live according to
knowledge, and yet they are not allowed by you to be happy; but I
think that you mean to confine happiness to particular individuals who
live according to knowledge, such for example as the prophet, who,
as I was saying, knows the future. Is it of him you are speaking or of
some one else?
Yes, I mean him, but there are others as well.
Yes, I said, some one who knows the past and present as well as
the future, and is ignorant of nothing. Let us suppose that there is
such a person, and if there is, you will allow that he is the most
knowing of all living men.
Certainly he is.
Yet I should like to know one thing more: which of the different
kinds of knowledge makes him happy? or do all equally make him happy?
Not all equally, he replied.
But which most tends to make him happy? the knowledge of what
past, present, or future thing? May I infer this to be the knowledge
of the game of draughts?
Nonsense about the game of draughts.
Or of computation?
No.
Or of health?
That is nearer the truth, he said.
And that knowledge which is nearest of all, I said, is the knowledge
of what?
The knowledge with which he discerns good and evil.
Monster! I said; you have been carrying me round in a circle, and
all this time hiding from me the fact that the life according to
knowledge is not that which makes men act rightly and be happy, not
even if knowledge include all the sciences, but one science only, that
of good and evil. For, let me ask you, Critias, whether, if you take
away this, medicine will not equally give health, and shoemaking
equally produce shoes, and the art of the weaver clothes?-whether
the art of the pilot will not equally save our lives at sea, and the
art of the general in war?
Quite so.
And yet, my dear Critias, none of these things will be well or
beneficially done, if the science of the good be wanting.
True.
But that science is not wisdom or temperance, but a science of human
advantage; not a science of other sciences, or of ignorance, but of
good and evil: and if this be of use, then wisdom or temperance will
not be of use.
And why, he replied, will not wisdom be of use? For, however much we
assume that wisdom is a science of sciences, and has a sway over other
sciences, surely she will have this particular science of the good
under her control, and in this way will benefit us.
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