TWO THEORIES OF KNOWLEDGE 39 



the explanation was furnished. yv&Qi GWVTOV was 

 his motto. All explanations of the Universe or 

 of Experience were, as he showed, vain unless the 

 Cognitive Faculty by which they were constructed 

 were operating truly. In particular, the process 

 of Rational Discourse implied the use of concrete 

 general terms, which were recognised to be the 

 essential instruments of Cognition. Socrates there- 

 fore devoted his attention specially to a critical 

 examination of these general terms and also of the 

 abstract terms which were the familiar instruments 

 of Discourse. 



The Greeks of that day were endowed with a 

 singular clearness of intellectual vision. They 

 readily recognised that Knowledge was an intel- 

 lectual process ; they appreciated the activity of 

 Thought or Rational Discourse as essential to its 

 formation. They quite understood that Know- 

 ledge is not of the nature of a photograph a 

 resemblant pictorial reproduction of the data 

 furnished by sensation. Only very casually and 

 occasionally do we ever attempt to supply our- 

 selves with a resemblant reproduction of our 

 sensations. Obviously such a reproduction would 

 only be of value memorially and could tell us 

 nothing new. 



These early Greeks realised this, and they appear 



