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[166e] whether it is Critias or Socrates who is being refuted: give the argument itself your attention, and observe what will become of it under the test of refutation.

Well, he said, I will do so; for I think there is a good deal in what you say.

Then tell me, I said, what you mean in regard to temperance.

Why, I mean, he said, that it alone of all the sciences is the science both of itself and of the other sciences.

So then, I said, it will be the science of the lack of science also, besides being the science of science?1

Certainly, he replied.


1 Science or exact knowledge must be able to measure not only the field of knowledge, but also that of its negation, ignorance.

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  • Commentary references to this page (1):
    • James Adam, The Republic of Plato, 1.333E
  • Cross-references to this page (1):
    • Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.5.2
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