登陆注册
5452400000017

第17章

Soc.I mean, O my Protarchus, to ask whether you would tell me that ship-building is for the sake of ships, or ships for the sake of ship-building? and in all similar cases I should ask the same question.

Pro.Why do you not answer yourself, Socrates?

Soc.I have no objection, but you must take your part.

Pro.Certainly.

Soc.My answer is, that all things instrumental, remedial, material, are given to us with a view to generation, and that each generation is relative to, or for the sake of, some being or essence, and that the whole of generation is relative to the whole of essence.

Pro.Assuredly.

Soc.Then pleasure, being a generation, must surely be for the sake of some essence?

Pro.True.

Soc.And that for the sake of which something else is done must be placed in the class of good, and that which is done for the sake of something else, in some other class, my good friend.

Pro.Most certainly.

Soc.Then pleasure, being a generation, will be rightly placed in some other class than that of good?

Pro.Quite right.

Soc.Then, as I said at first, we ought to be very grateful to him who first pointed out that pleasure was a generation only, and had no true being at all; for he is clearly one who laughs at the notion of pleasure being a good.

Pro.Assuredly.

Soc.And he would surely laugh also at those who make generation their highest end.

Pro.Of whom are you speaking, and what do they mean?

Soc.I am speaking of those who when they are cured of hunger or thirst or any other defect by some process of generation are delighted at the process as if it were pleasure; and they say that they would not wish to live without these and other feelings of a like kind which might be mentioned.

Pro.That is certainly what they appear to think.

Soc.And is not destruction universally admitted to be the opposite of generation?

Pro.Certainly.

Soc.Then he who chooses thus, would choose generation and destruction rather than that third sort of life, in which, as we were saying, was neither pleasure nor pain, but only the purest possible thought.

Pro.He who would make us believe pleasure to be a good is involved in great absurdities, Socrates.

Soc.Great, indeed; and there is yet another of them.

Pro.What is it?

Soc.Is there not an absurdity in arguing that there is nothing good or noble in the body, or in anything else, but that good is in the soul only, and that the only good of the soul is pleasure; and that courage or temperance or understanding, or any other good of the soul, is not really a good?-and is there not yet a further absurdity in our being compelled to say that he who has a feeling of pain and not of pleasure is bad at the time when he is suffering pain, even though he be the best of men; and again, that he who has a feeling of pleasure, in so far as he is pleased at the time when he is pleased, in that degree excels in virtue?

Pro.Nothing, Socrates, can be more irrational than all this.

Soc.And now, having subjected pleasure to every sort of test, let us not appear to be too sparing of mind and knowledge: let us ring their metal bravely, and see if there be unsoundness in any part, until we have found out what in them is of the purest nature; and then the truest elements both of pleasure and knowledge may be brought up for judgment.

Pro.Right.

Soc.Knowledge has two parts-the one productive, and the other educational?

Pro.True.

Soc.And in the productive or handicraft arts, is not one part more akin to knowledge, and the other less; and may not the one part be regarded as the pure, and the other as the impure?

Pro.Certainly.

Soc.Let us separate the superior or dominant elements in each of them.

Pro.What are they, and how do you separate them?

Soc.I mean to say, that if arithmetic, mensuration, and weighing be taken away from any art, that which remains will not be much.

Pro.Not much, certainly.

Soc.The rest will be only conjecture, and the better use of the senses which is given by experience and practice, in addition to a certain power of guessing, which is commonly called art, and is perfected by attention and pains.

Pro.Nothing more, assuredly.

Soc.Music, for instance, is full of this empiricism; for sounds are harmonized, not by measure, but by skilful conjecture; the music of the flute is always trying to guess the pitch of each vibrating note, and is therefore mixed up with much that is doubtful and has little which is certain.

Pro.Most true.

Soc.And the same will be found to hold good of medicine and husbandry and piloting and generalship.

Pro.Very true.

Soc.The art of the builder, on the other hand, which uses a number of measures and instruments, attains by their help to a greater degree of accuracy than the other arts.

Pro.How is that?

Soc.In ship-building and house-building, and in other branches of the art of carpentering, the builder has his rule, lathe, compass, line, and a most ingenious machine for straightening wood.

Pro.Very true, Socrates.

Soc.Then now let us divide the arts of which we were speaking into two kinds-the arts which, like music, are less exact in their results, and those which, like carpentering, are more exact.

Pro.Let us make that division.

Soc.Of the latter class, the most exact of all are those which we just now spoke of as primary.

Pro.I see that you mean arithmetic, and the kindred arts of weighing and measuring.

Soc.Certainly, Protarchus; but are not these also distinguishable into two kinds?

Pro.What are the two kinds?

Soc.In the first place, arithmetic is of two kinds, one of which is popular, and the other philosophical.

Pro.How would you distinguish them?

Soc.There is a wide difference between them, Protarchus; some arithmeticians reckon unequal units; as for example, two armies, two oxen, two very large things or two very small things.The party who are opposed to them insist that every unit in ten thousand must be the same as every other unit.

Pro.Undoubtedly there is, as you say, a great difference among the votaries of the science; and there may be reasonably supposed to be two sorts of arithmetic.

同类推荐
  • 太上灵宝中元地官消愆灭罪忏

    太上灵宝中元地官消愆灭罪忏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 赛红丝

    赛红丝

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Horse's Tale

    A Horse's Tale

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上洞玄灵宝大纲钞

    太上洞玄灵宝大纲钞

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 蜀乱述闻

    蜀乱述闻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 梵网经述记

    梵网经述记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 人在天涯

    人在天涯

    1976年琼瑶创作的小说,在开始写作的时候,就已经预计到了改编电影的可能,是专为导演的设想而写,1977年在意大利实景拍摄。志翔(马永霖)怀着梦想飞往罗马去投奔学声乐的哥哥陈志远(秦祥林),本想已功成名就的志远,必定在各大著名的舞台上意兴风发地表演着歌剧,却不料,志远只是歌剧院内抬布景的杂工。真相一旦呈现,志翔顿时惭愧自己利用志远的钱,读着贵族般的学校,更深深感到人在天涯的悲恐……
  • 丧尸女王很无奈

    丧尸女王很无奈

    为救人而死,一朝醒来,古万兮发现自己变成了另外一个人,对于第二次穿越,古万兮只想说:贼老天,你耍我玩呐!!!只不过,这还不是最让古万兮吐槽的地方,毕竟都第二次了,古万兮自认为已看穿老天的面目,这次却没想到,自己到了末世?!!!天呐,丧尸遍地跑,这画面想想都酸爽……
  • 最强系统之万界主宰

    最强系统之万界主宰

    【火爆精品】Ps:本书内容极度舒适浩军:”异族不可踏上地球的土地!‘’美女至尊:“那我们就建个浮空岛好啦,好不好嘛?”浩军:“老妖婆,滚回你的老巢去!”美女至尊目瞪口呆,掩面而走!入侵万界,我为主宰!
  • 一抹毒药

    一抹毒药

    “夜已眠,人未歇,相思牵肠,夜半见柔肠;天已凉,梦几回,多重素梦,一夜梦萦绕。”
  • 佛说长者音悦经

    佛说长者音悦经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 陛下总想娶我

    陛下总想娶我

    初见时,她把他当成采花贼,狠甩一记耳光后,才知惹了腹黑狠辣的大人物。她本是帝国臭名昭著的废柴丑女,被渣爹出卖,嫁给瘫痪失势的鬼王为妃。废柴配残废,天下人都等着看笑话,却不料鬼王一夜病愈,夺皇位,废后宫,将这位唯一的皇后宠上了天。天下女子皆羡慕皇后娘娘万千宠爱于一身,却不知她正揉着酸疼的小腰怒砸某帝:“我当年只是打了你一巴掌,你至于记仇到现在,把我往死里折腾吗?”“敢打朕的脸,还一辈子是轻的。”他邪气地朝她轻勾手指,“你是自己过来,还是等朕过去抓?”
  • 一个葫芦

    一个葫芦

    一个大能者闲着没有事做,随手丢了“宝贝垃圾”。却被凡人界中的凡人们误以为是流星,还有一个小孩子被这种流星“垃圾”砸出了屎尿,还把气海给砸破裂了。这个倒霉的孩子就是叫江星儿,他因为气海破裂,所以没有修真者教他修练,那他只能自己乱来了。修练本来是严肃的事情,但被江星儿这个完全不懂的人乱搞,出现了很多笑话。新手作者求收藏,关注,现在实在太难了。
  • 当家农女

    当家农女

    一朝穿越为农女,家里只有病榻的爷爷奶奶,还有两个小包子弟弟。挑起重担,为家里谋生,一不小心就成了小康。可是,啥这是她爹爹娘亲小叔大哥?不是死了吗?好吧,顿时成了小家闺秀,这不,俊朗又多金的未婚夫找上门来,开始了她不一样的贵妇人生!
  • 天价私宠:帝少的重生辣妻

    天价私宠:帝少的重生辣妻

    "前生萧安宁被情敌轻飘飘一句话,便死无葬身之地。意外重生,回到特工生涯关键晋级时刻。她挑眉含笑:既然一切重来,自然要有债还债,有仇报仇。"--情节虚构,请勿模仿