276 THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE 



turn? The &quot; Know thyself &quot; of Socrates is the re 

 ply to the practical problem which confronted 

 Athens in his day. Investigation into the true 

 ends and worths of human life, sifting and test 

 ing of all competing ends, the discovery of a 

 method which should validate the genuine and 

 dismiss the spurious, had henceforth to do for 

 man what consolidated and incorporate custom 

 had hitherto presented as a free and precious 

 gift. 



With Socrates the question is as direct and prac 

 tical as the question of making one s living or of 

 governing the state ; it is indeed the same question 

 put in its general form. It is a question that the 

 flute player, the cobbler, and the politician must 

 face no more and no less than the reflective philos 

 opher. The question is addressed by Socrates to 

 every individual and to every group with which he 

 comes in contact. Because the question is practi 

 cal it is individual and direct. It is a question 

 which every one must face and answer for himself, 

 just as in the Protestant scheme every individual 

 must face and solve for himself the question of his 

 final destiny. 



Yet the very attitude of Socrates carried with it 

 the elements of its own destruction. Socrates could 

 only raise the question, or rather demand of every 

 individual that he raise it for himself. Of the 

 answer he declared himself to be as ignorant as 



