142 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 
irony or affected ignorance. But while Socrates had used it for the 
attainment of true knowledge, these saw in it only a weapon for the 
overthrow of opposing theories. Thus, as in the case of the Sceptics 
who followed later, they finally, by a free use of dialectic, denied the 
possibility of arriving at positive knowledge, and made dialectic an 
end in itself. 
THE CYNICS. 
The Cynics, and after them the Stoics, following the Socratic 
idea of self-mastery and independence, saw in asceticism the path 
to true virtue and happiness. Like the Megarians, they followed 
Socrates in placing virtue in knowledge and in making reason 
cognizant of that highest good. But, whereas the Megarians had 
opposed only the testimony of the senses, the Cynics considered it 
necessary to struggle against the pleasures of the senses. ‘This even 
led them to treat with indifference the various social ties in which 
they came into direct antagonism with the urbanity of Socrates. 
THE CYRENAICS. 
The Cyrenaics, and later the Epicureans, looking at the mental 
serenity and urbanity of Socrates, saw in pleasure the only supreme 
good. Like Socrates the Cyrenaics occupied themselves in discover- 
ing the chief good for man. Like him they also considered this 
good to be knowledge. Knowledge then must be the end of 
philosophy. But since our knowledge comes from sensations, which 
may be productive of either pleasure or pain, the Cyrenaic asked 
himself, “‘to which of these classes would true knowledge belong ?” 
By deciding in favor of pleasurable sensations, he identified true 
knowledge and thus virtue with present pleasure. We cannot fail, 
however, te notice how far in this they have gone from the position 
of the Master, who found present pleasure only in the pursuit of 
philosophy. 
While each of these systems had emphasized one side only of 
the Socratic character, they had done this to the neglect or contradic- 
tion of other essential phases of the complete Socrates. It is in 
Plato that we find the completion and unification of the Socratic 
philosophy. 
PLATO. 
Plato, like Socrates, held ideas to be the only reality, and 
material things to be devoid of real essence. With Plato, however, 
