229–230
Stranger
Str. I at any rate think I do see one large and grievous kind of ignorance, separate from the rest, and as weighty as all the other parts put together.
Theaetetus
Theaet. What is it?
Stranger
Str. Thinking that one knows a thing when one does not know it. Through this, I believe, all the mistakes of the mind are caused in all of us.
15
Stranger
Str. And furthermore to this kind of ignorance alone the name of stupidity is given.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Certainly.
Stranger
Str. Now what name is to be given to that part of instruction which gets rid of this?
Theaetetus
Theaet. I think, Stranger, that the other part is called instruction in handicraft, and that this part is here at Athens through our influence called education.
20
Stranger
Str. And so it is, Theaetetus, among nearly all the Hellenes. But we must examine further and see whether it is one and indivisible or still admits of division important enough to have a name.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Yes, we must see about that.
Stranger
Str. I think there is still a way in which this also may be divided.
Theaetetus
Theaet. On what principle?
Stranger
Str. Of instruction in arguments one method seems to be rougher, and the other section smoother.
25
Theaetetus
Theaet. What shall we call each of these?
Stranger
Str. The venerable method of our fathers, which they generally employed towards their sons, and which many still employ, of sometimes showing anger at their errors and sometimes more gently exhorting them—that would most properly be called as a whole admonition.
Theaetetus
Theaet. That is true.
