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Stranger
Str. But what do we mean by these words, the same and other, which we have just used? Are they two new classes, different from the other three, but always of necessity mingled with them, and must we conduct our inquiry on the assumption that there are five classes, not three, or are we unconsciously speaking of one of those three when we say the same or other?
Theaetetus
Theaet. Perhaps.
Stranger
Str. But certainly motion and rest are neither other nor the same.
Theaetetus
Theaet. How so?
Stranger
Str. Whatever term we apply to rest and motion in common cannot be either of those two.
5
Theaetetus
Theaet. Why not?
Stranger
Str. Because motion would be at rest and rest would be in motion; in respect of both, for whichever of the two became other would force the other to change its nature into that of its opposite, since it would participate in its opposite.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Exactly so.
Stranger
Str. Both certainly partake of the same and the other. i.e., sameness and difference can he predicated of both.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Yes.
10
Stranger
Str. Then we must not say that motion, or rest either, is the same or other.
Stranger
Str. But should we conceive of being and the same as one?
Theaetetus
Theaet. Perhaps.
Stranger
Str. But if being and the same have no difference of meaning, then when we go on and say that both rest and motion are, we shall be saying that they are both the same, since they are.
15
Theaetetus
Theaet. But surely that is impossible.
Stranger
Str. Then it is impossible for being and the same to be one.
Theaetetus
Theaet. Pretty nearly.
Stranger
Str. So we shall consider the same a fourth class in addition to the other three?
