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Stranger
Str. Where, then, shall we find the statesman’s path? For we must find it, separate it from the rest, and imprint upon it the seal of a single class; then we must set the mark of another single class upon all the other paths that lead away from this, and make our soul conceive of all sciences as of two classes. i.e. one class is to be separated and then all the rest are to be marked as one other class—the familiar division into two parts.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. This, Stranger, is now your affair, I think, not mine.
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Stranger
Str. And yet, Socrates, it must be your affair, too, when we have found the path.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Quite true.
Stranger
Str. Are not arithmetic and certain other kindred arts pure sciences, without regard to practical application, which merely furnish knowledge?
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Yes, they are.
Stranger
Str. But the science possessed by the arts relating to carpentering and to handicraft in general is inherent in their application, and with its aid they create objects which did not previously exist.
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Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. To be sure.
Stranger
Str. In this way, then, divide all science into two arts, calling the one practical, and the other purely intellectual.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. Let us assume that all science is one and that these are its two forms.
Stranger
Str. Shall we then assume that the statesman, king, master, and householder too, for that matter, are all one, to be grouped under one title, or shall we say that there are as many arts as names? But let me rather help you to understand in this way.
Younger Socrates
Y. Soc. In what way?
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