USELESS KNOWLEDGE 37 



aX\o)9 e%eiy), 1 should not refrain from 

 speaking thus. For I want you to see the exact point of 

 my doctrine, and where it diverges from your own. 



Of course I see that. If you can prove your 

 derivation of the Axioms and show that the necessary is 

 only the needful, the speculative reason must say a long 

 farewell to its independence. 



Perhaps it will be none the worse for that. 



At this point Plato interposed a question. 



Have I understood you rightly, most astonishing 

 young man, to affirm that theoretic truth was wholly 

 derivative and subservient to practical purposes ? 



You have. 



In that case would you not have to regard theoretic 

 falsehood as, in the last resort, practical uselessness ? 



You are quite right, Plato, and I am glad I have made 

 my point so clear to you. 



And would you contend generally that the &quot; useless &quot; 

 and the &quot; false &quot; were not two things but one ? 



Not quite. For the useless is not always dismissed 

 as &quot; false.&quot; It may also be rejected as &quot; unreal,&quot; as is 

 done by those who, deeming dreams to be useless, account 

 them unreal. And perhaps it might be most accurate to 

 call the &quot; useless &quot; &quot; unmeaning &quot; rather than &quot; false.&quot; But 

 that hardly matters, for we surely may call the unmeaning 

 &quot; false &quot; or &quot; unreal &quot; as suits our purpose. 



It seems however that you do not say that the false is 

 useless ? 



Certainly not, Plato, I would not deprive you of all 

 men of your &quot; noble lies &quot;. z 



Nor would you say that the useful and the true were 

 quite the same ? 



Not, except in the ideal state, in which no use could 

 be found but for the whole truth, and all were too reason 

 able and too well educated to desire to pursue seeming 

 &quot; truths &quot; which were useless and therefore to be judged 

 false. But might we not ask Aristotle to tell us all that 

 logically follows from the two propositions which I am 



1 Republic, 414 C. 



