[438c]
“And similarly of the more towards the fewer, and the double
towards the half and of all like cases, and again of the heavier towards the
lighter, the swifter towards the slower, and yet again of the hot towards
the cold and all cases of that kind,1 does not the same hold?” “By all
means.” “But what of the sciences? Is not the way of it
the same? Science which is just that, is of knowledge which is just that, or
is of whatsoever2 we must assume the correlate of
science to be. But a particular science of a particular kind is of some
particular thing of a particular kind.
1 καὶ . . . καὶ αὖ . . . καὶ ἔτι γε etc. mark different classes of relations, magnitudes, precise quantites, the mechanical properties of matter and the physical properties.
2 Plato does not wish to complicate his logic with metaphysics. The objective correlate of ἐπιστήμη is a difficult problem. In the highest sense it is the ideas. Cf. Parmenides 134 A. But the relativity of ἐπιστήμη(Aristotle Topics iv. 1. 5) leads to psychological difficulties in Charmides 168 and to theological in Parmenides 134 C-E, which are waived by this phrase. Sceince in the abstract is of knowledge in the abstract, architectural science is of the specific knowledge called architecture. Cf. Sophist 257 C.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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