But, although he differentiated himself so carefully from what moderns would call the philosophical schools, Isokrates styled himself a teacher of philosophy quite as much as they did. To him, as to the Romans, philosophy was the art of living a practical life. “That which is of no immediate use either for speech or for action does not deserve the name of Philosophy.”[537] The true philosopher is not the dreamer who neglects what is practical and essential, but the man of the world who learns and studies subjects which will make him able to manage his household and govern his state well; for this is the object of all labour and all philosophy.[537] With this practical end in view he ridicules the metaphysical researches of “the old Sophists, of whom Demokritos said that the number of realities was infinite, and Empedokles declared for four, and Ion for not more than three, and Alkmaion for only two, and Parmenides and Melissos for one, while Gorgias asserted that nothing existed at all.”[538] In the promises which he makes of imparting to his pupils this practical wisdom which he calls philosophy, Isokrates is characteristically cautious. An exact science, which will embrace all possible questions and circumstances which may arise in domestic and political matters, is an impossibility; men must be content with a general capacity of forming a right judgment in view of each particular case when it arises. Consequently he defines as “wise men,” σοφοί [sophoi], “those whose judgment usually hits upon the right course of action,” and as “seekers after wisdom” or philosophers, φιλόσοφοι [philosophoi], “those who occupy themselves with those studies and pursuits from which they will most quickly obtain this practical wisdom,”[539] or capacity of forming correct judgments. But a judgment can only be formed properly after a proper deliberation: so the work of Philosophy is to practise her pupils in this deliberation.[540]