[233a]
Theaetetus
What do you mean and just what do you refer to? I do not yet understand your question.Stranger
I ask whether it is possible for a man to know all things.Theaetetus
If that were possible, Stranger, ours would indeed be a blessed race.Stranger
How, then, can one who is himself ignorant say anything worth while in arguing with one who knows?Theaetetus
He cannot at all.Stranger
Then what in the world can the magical power of the sophistical art be?Theaetetus
Magical power in what respect? [233b] Stranger
In the way in which they are able to make young men think that they themselves are in all matters the wisest of men. For it is clear that if they neither disputed correctly nor seemed to the young men to do so, or again if they did seem to dispute rightly but were not considered wiser on that account, nobody, to quote from you,1 would care to pay them money to become their pupil in these subjects.Theaetetus
Certainly not.Stranger
But now people do care to do so?Theaetetus
Very much. [233c] Stranger
Yes, for they are supposed, I fancy, to have knowledge themselves of the things about which they dispute.Theaetetus
Of course.Stranger
And they do that about all things, do they not?Theaetetus
Yes.Stranger
Then they appear to their pupils to be wise in all things.Theaetetus
To be sure.Stranger
Though they are not; for that was shown to be impossible.Theaetetus
Of course it is impossible.Stranger
Then it is a sort of knowledge based upon mere opinion that the sophist has been shown to possess about all things, not true knowledge. [233d] Theaetetus
Certainly; and I shouldn't be surprised if that were the most accurate statement we have made about him so far.Stranger
Let us then take a clearer example to explain this.Theaetetus
What sort of an example?Stranger
This one; and try to pay attention and to give a very careful answer to my question.Theaetetus
What is the question?Stranger
If anyone should say that by virtue of a single art he knew how, not to assert or dispute, but to do and make all things— [233e] Theaetetus
What do you mean by all things?Stranger
You fail to grasp the very beginning of what I said; for apparently you do not understand the word “all.”Theaetetus
No, I do not.Stranger
I mean you and me among the “all,” and the other animals besides, and the trees.Theaetetus
What do you mean?Stranger
If one should say that he would make you and me and all other created beings.Theaetetus
What would he mean by “making”? Evidently you will not say
What do you mean and just what do you refer to? I do not yet understand your question.Stranger
I ask whether it is possible for a man to know all things.Theaetetus
If that were possible, Stranger, ours would indeed be a blessed race.Stranger
How, then, can one who is himself ignorant say anything worth while in arguing with one who knows?Theaetetus
He cannot at all.Stranger
Then what in the world can the magical power of the sophistical art be?Theaetetus
Magical power in what respect? [233b] Stranger
In the way in which they are able to make young men think that they themselves are in all matters the wisest of men. For it is clear that if they neither disputed correctly nor seemed to the young men to do so, or again if they did seem to dispute rightly but were not considered wiser on that account, nobody, to quote from you,1 would care to pay them money to become their pupil in these subjects.Theaetetus
Certainly not.Stranger
But now people do care to do so?Theaetetus
Very much. [233c] Stranger
Yes, for they are supposed, I fancy, to have knowledge themselves of the things about which they dispute.Theaetetus
Of course.Stranger
And they do that about all things, do they not?Theaetetus
Yes.Stranger
Then they appear to their pupils to be wise in all things.Theaetetus
To be sure.Stranger
Though they are not; for that was shown to be impossible.Theaetetus
Of course it is impossible.Stranger
Then it is a sort of knowledge based upon mere opinion that the sophist has been shown to possess about all things, not true knowledge. [233d] Theaetetus
Certainly; and I shouldn't be surprised if that were the most accurate statement we have made about him so far.Stranger
Let us then take a clearer example to explain this.Theaetetus
What sort of an example?Stranger
This one; and try to pay attention and to give a very careful answer to my question.Theaetetus
What is the question?Stranger
If anyone should say that by virtue of a single art he knew how, not to assert or dispute, but to do and make all things— [233e] Theaetetus
What do you mean by all things?Stranger
You fail to grasp the very beginning of what I said; for apparently you do not understand the word “all.”Theaetetus
No, I do not.Stranger
I mean you and me among the “all,” and the other animals besides, and the trees.Theaetetus
What do you mean?Stranger
If one should say that he would make you and me and all other created beings.Theaetetus
What would he mean by “making”? Evidently you will not say
