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[196e] But really, Theaetetus, our talk has been badly tainted with unclearness all along; for we have said over and over again “we know” and “we do not know” and “we have knowledge” and “we have no knowledge,” as if we could understand each other, while we were still ignorant of knowledge; and at this very moment, if you please, we have again used the terms “be ignorant” and “understand,” as though we had any right to use them if we are deprived of knowledge.

Theaetetus
But how will you converse, Socrates, if you refrain from these words?


Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.

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  • Commentary references to this page (1):
    • R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato, 211E
  • Cross-references to this page (1):
    • Basil L. Gildersleeve, Syntax of Classical Greek, Tenses
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (2):
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