The dialogues of Plato in five volumes, Vol. 2 (of 5) : $b Translated into English with analyses and introductions
Plato · en
I should be far enough from imagining, he replied, that I
knew the cause of any of them, by heaven I should; for I
cannot satisfy myself that, when one is added to one, the one
to which the addition is made becomes two, or that the two 97
units added together make two by reason of the addition. I
cannot understand how, when separated from the other, each
of them was one and not two, and now, when they are
brought together, the mere juxtaposition or meeting of them
should be the cause of their becoming two: neither can I
understand how the division of one is the way to make two;
for then a different cause would produce the same effect,—as
in the former instance the addition and juxtaposition of one
to one was the cause of two, in this the separation and subtraction
of one from the other would be the cause. Nor am
I any longer satisfied that I understand the reason why one
or anything else is either generated or destroyed or is at all,
but I have in my mind some confused notion of a new
method, and can never admit the other.
[Sidenote: _The inconsistency of Anaxagoras._]
[Sidenote: The great expectations which Socrates had from the doctrine of
Anaxagoras, that all was Mind.]
Then I heard some one reading, as he said, from a book
of Anaxagoras, that mind was the disposer and cause of all,
and I was delighted at this notion, which appeared quite
admirable, and I said to myself: If mind is the disposer,
mind will dispose all for the best, and put each particular in
the best place; and I argued that if any one desired to find
out the cause of the generation or destruction or existence of
anything, he must find out what state of being or doing or
suffering was best for that thing, and therefore a man had only
to consider the best for himself and others, and then he
would also know the worse, since the same science comprehended
both. And I rejoiced to think that I had found in
Anaxagoras a teacher of the causes of existence such as I desired,
and I imagined that he would tell me first whether the
earth is flat or round; and whichever was true, he would
proceed to explain the cause and the necessity of this being
so, and then he would teach me the nature of the best and
show that this was best; and if he said that the earth was in
the centre, he would further explain that this position was
the best, and I should be satisfied with the explanation
given, and not want any other sort of cause. And I thought 98
that I would then go on and ask him about the sun and moon
and stars, and that he would explain to me their comparative
swiftness, and their returnings and various states, active and
passive, and how all of them were for the best. For I could
not imagine that when he spoke of mind as the disposer of