THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE 277 



was any one. The result could be only a shifting 

 of the center of interest. If the question is so all- 

 important, and yet the wisest of all men must con 

 fess that he only knows his own ignorance as to its 

 answer, the inevitable point of further considera 

 tion is the discovery of a method which shall enable 

 the question to be answered. This is the signifi 

 cance of Plato. The problem is the absolutely in 

 evitable outgrowth of the Socratic position; and 

 yet it carried with it just as inevitably the separa 

 tion of philosopher from shoemaker and statesman, 

 and the relegation of theory to a position remote 

 for the time being from conduct. 



If the Socratic command, &quot; Know thyself,&quot; runs 

 against the dead wall of inability to conduct this 

 knowledge, some one must take upon himself the 

 discovery of how the requisite knowledge may be 

 obtained. A new profession is born, that of the 

 thinker. At this time the means, the discovery of 

 how the aims and worths of the self may be known 

 and measured, becomes, for this class, an end in 

 itself. Theory is ultimately to be applied to prac 

 tice ; but in the meantime the theory must be worked 

 out as theory or else no application. This repre 

 sents the peculiar equilibrium and the peculiar 

 point of contradiction in the Platonic system. All 

 philosophy is simply for the sake of the organiza 

 tion and regulation of social life ; and yet the phi 

 losophers must be a class by themselves, working 



