Plato, Theaetetus, section 208e

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[208e]

Theaetetus
I understand; and it seems to me that it is quite right to call that kind a rational explanation or definition.

Socrates
Then he who possesses right opinion about anything and adds thereto a comprehension of the difference which distinguishes it from other things will have acquired knowledge of that thing of which he previously had only opinion.

Theaetetus
That is what we affirm.

Socrates
Theaetetus, now that I have come closer to our statement, I do not understand it at all. It is like coming close to a scene-painting.¹ While I stood off at a distance, I thought there was something in it.

Theaetetus
What do you mean?

1 In which perspective is the main thing.

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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