ii USELESS KNOWLEDGE 37 



You blaspheme horribly against the highest beings in 

 the universe, the Deity and the Triangle ! 



Even though you should threaten to impale me on 

 the acutest angle of the most acute-angled specimen of the 

 latter you can find in your world of &quot; necessary matter &quot; 

 (/jbrj evSe%o[jiev(0v aXXo)&amp;lt;? e^ew), I 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 very nearly right, Plato ; the practical use 

 lessness of the theoretic &quot; truth &quot; which turns out to be 

 false is what convinces us. 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, doubly 

 named ? 



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 the unmeaning will be called 

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



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

 useless ? 



Not until you see that when you can call it false you 

 must already have discovered the limits of its use. 



