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    DR. WHEWELL'S PLATO.* likelto attend the

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    influences . And it is precisely because the ventilation of this question by the press affords the most efficient means of causing this law to have fair play that we allude to the subject . Let every consumer institute a strict inquiry into his butcher ' s and his baker ' s price current , and insist upon knowing " thereason why" the prices in the shop do not come down with the prices in the market . We should very much like to know , for one thing , " the reason why " joints of mutton and beef are from lOd . to llrjd ., while in the Western districts , as Somersetshire for example , the price is only 7 £ d . for prime ribs and surloins . Surely the charge of conveyance by rail is not so great as to make a difference of about 50 per cent . Of course if the consumer does not keep a sharp look out on these matters , the retailer will be in no hurry to contract his prices . "We advise "Paterfamilias , " therefore , to look after his larder and his bread-basket .

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    of Plato ' s works is significant of much in the extraordinary times in which we live . There was a period when what was mistaken for Baconian Induction reigned with undisputed sway in the scientific world . Coleridge then indulged in the study of apriori philosophy at the peril of his literary reputation ; and the various essays of Mr . De Quincy and Mr . Heraud in " Blaekwood " and ¦ " Fraser , " and other periodicals , advocating the cultivation of the mind in that direction , were regarded as acts of literary daring which prudent critics would have avoided . The seed , however , was therebv scattered abroad j and not all of it fell on stony ground . At that time , to name Kant or Fichte was almost unpardonable audacity—but now their authority is quoted in all high-class reviews , and savant and sophist alike familiarly appeal to it , whether in brief tractate or elaborate treatise . Orthodox writers now

    mention Hegel and Oken without a shudder , and their systems are invoked in support of newer theories , or developed into more satisfactory and further advanced conclusions , 2 vay > the embodiment of all these in formal logic is sanctioned by the universities ; t and Dr . Thomson ' s " Outlines of Thought "is how appointed a text-book to be used in the examination of students ; so that college-youths are no longer permitted to be ignorant of that , which only so lately it was thought dangerous to know . Rapid indeed have _ been these advances , and highly creditable to the progressive aptitude of the English intellect to ' seize on the more subtle formulae of metaphysMal truth .

    The path was thus prepared for Dr . Whewells experimens on the dialogues ^ of Plato , the first volume of which was published a few months ago , when a notice appeared in our columns expressive of the welcome universally accorded to it by the scholarly mind . That volume treated of Socrates , his life and death , and grouped the interesting dialogues connected with , his accusation , and execution in a manner calculated to interest every true thinker and lover of true thought Socrates was , perhaps , the first who distinctly taught his fellow-men that they had souls ; awl that each soul was an inward and invisible kosmos , quite as real as the out-ward and matei-ial world ;—nay , if the full tx * uth might be spoken , more real , Socrates aeems early to have broken through the tyranny of custom , and moralities of

    seen the untenableness of the social and conventional Ids time , its belief and expectations . Refusing to be bound by these , he constantly lived among those primary intuitions which , familiar in youth , usually vanish as manhood and age advance ; and , perhaps , as a natural consequence , maintained a juvenile cheerfulness of disposition and gaiety of heart to the last . As a great writer says , speaking on this point , Socrates " had descended to the roots of that rich nature of which our actual men are but stunted and fractional developments ; and thus were his sympathies so full and sincere . Hence , too , that unaffected solemnity which often mingled very touchingly with his most humorous moments . He could not conceal from his own Soul that he had gone deeper than Sense , and that the Voices tp which ho listened came from beyond

    the World . It was not for an Intellect so masculine to get entangled with unmanageable theories concerning ; the nature of the Intuitions ; he simply felt thoir presence , and reverently bowed himself down 5 like Pythagoras , ho said he had a heavenly Guide , and owed his safety to his Dounion . " Such being 1 the case , it is nob extraordinary that Socrates should have insisted so much on the importance of selfrknowledge . That is the meaning of the term wisdom . He not only insisted on this kind of knowledge as paramount , but as the root of all other knowledge . And , as to that other knowledge , lie equally insisted on its being what it pretended . Particularly , he would httve words rightly and conscientiously used . People , in general , are not careful to know what they moan , when they use a certain word . They take it up , and pass it from hand to hand with a loose dubious sense , until at last it comes to mean nothing , or is mistaken both in regard to its vuluo and its moaning . The writer , whom wo have already quoted , is enox'gotic on this point .

    "A Woki ) : obaervo what it is , What realities it ought to represent ! First , it stands for « certain definite thing—a fact or form in nature about whioh thoro can bo no dispute ; nnd , secondly , by every quo of its derivative meanings it represents some actual analogy among things , and certain equally dofinitivo laws of the mind . To understand a word , then , implies no plight knowledge ; and the use of it requires proportional care . Do men really thus comprehend the words they employ P Take up any common or

    received proposition , and question , a man who says he stands by it ; ask if he comprehends its t-erms ? We fear it is as certain now , as So ' crates demonstrated it to be in Athens , that , no . matter how momentous the proposition , no matter though some entire system of morals , politics , or theology , may hang ori it—aye , that ninetynine in a hundred , even of so-called intelligent persons , would not come clean through the scrutiny ! The power to construct language is an especial distinction of humanity ; and the right and conscientious use of it is the means by which alone we connect the past with the present , and discern through nature and history , those grand and serene principles , of order which reveal a Supreme g-overnment ; employ it otherwise , and it veils reality ; it is an excuse for not looking at things , the-iaind -becomes its instrument ; truth gives way to dogma , and we are false without a blush .

    The favourable reception of the former volume has induced Dr . Whewell to -. venture a second . The selection included in . this , he terms " the Antisophist Dialogues . " These-relate to the conflicts which Socrates promoted with the professional teachers of his day , to whom the appellation of Sophists attached . Superficial readers of history have too readily taken it for granted that these Sophists were ignorant and dishonest teachers of fallacies , whom he put signally to the rout . This is a gross mistake ; they were " the respectable lecturers and educators of the place and time to whom parents and guardians willingly and profitably entrusted the instruction of their children . They were not conscious of error in their teaching , and fitted the sons of reputable citizens for the offices of life which they were likely to fill . For rendering this necessarv

    service they received fees , and earned them by the labour of mind and body which they devoted to the task . But Socrates looked at them , not with the mere eye of a man of the world , but with that of a philosopher , ; and penetrated the defects of their theory and practice . These defects are quite as prevalent now in the same class of persons as they were then . The war that Socrates maintained with them was directed against mere respectability in morals , science , and statesmanship , in favour of excellence arid genius . He demanded from them what in no age luivethey been able to supply . Ordinary teachers , now as then , undertake to expound theories they have never thoroughly investigated , and prepare the yoiuig for the daily work of public life by siipei'fieial lessons . Beyond the routine of

    such tuition they are usually as ignorant now as they wei'e then ; and if they were subjected to Socratic exposure , would appear quite as ridiculous as their elder representatives . Perhaps in no age more than the present was such exposure heedful . Men run to and fro , that knowledge may be increased ; and , though in some sort , they fulfil an important mission , yet , if they are found to stand in the way of the original thinker , and make men contented with shallowness , and impatient of serious depth of thought;—surely it is time that their comparative insignificance should be demonstrated , and they should be compelled to take their true position in society that the mbre meritorious may assume the lead , and conduct humanity to hievher achievements , .

    The true philosopher is necessarily thus in constant ant gonism with conventional instructors and professional authorities . These regard the immediate and specific use to which their teachings may be applied . The Socratic educator will not admit this as an element at . all in education . " Knowledge , " says he , " attained with chief view to specific uses , never forms the man , and is , not true knowledge . Truth in itself is not yet represented by conventional institutions and requirements ; and the mind which seeks in the first place to subserve these , must be satisfied to miss truth . " This to most , is no doubt a hard saying—certainly , to the mere respectable man who leans on those institutions for his only support . But there are few things and few persons that are proof against criticism j and Socrates was a critic .

    In these dialogues , the professional teachers and rhetoricians ot Athens who were called by themsolves and others Sophists , or Wise Men , are occupied with Socrates in discussions , in which they are represented a * refuted , perplexed , or silenced . Dr . Whowell takes pains to correct the vulgar notion that these men formed a sect or party in the State that was ultimately put down by Plato . They were , he states , in truth , most diverse in their tenets , characters , position , mode of discussion , and objects , and wei * o , several of thorn , as strenuous inculcators of virtue , nnd as subtle rensoners us Plato himself . But the difference between them was this : while they sought only to commend themselves to their scholars by the looso

    and incompact phrases of a popular style , Plato was , " in search ol a Theory of Ethics solidly and scientifically founded upon Ideas ami Definitions , and was always ready to prove that the ' doctrines of 'his opponents were worthless , because they could not be rimdu to supply such a theox'y . Pi'otugoras , Prodicus , Hippia . s GOrgins , and the rest , arc to him * Sophists in the disparaging' sense , because they cannot moot his domands for such 11 system—just as Jeremy liontham might have called Jiutler , Pi'ico , nnd Clarke , sophists ; or as Coleridge might have called Locko , Concliliar , and 1 > 'Aloinburt , sophists . " The last-mentioned authors have , indeed , boon the greatest suflercrs by the recent dovelopoinont of tx'iinseendentul philosophy in tho most authoritative quarters .

    Dr . WhowoH lias , more or loss , translated and iatorprotcd in this vohimo 'nine of the Platonio Dialoguos . Theso aro : Proitngoran , tho greater aiul lessor Hinpias , Ion , Euthydoriius , Gorgias , Phindvus , Menoxonus , and PhilobiiH . Those aro nil charmingly exooutod . They road as freely as u drama or romance , and stimulate tho mind with emotions tho most exquisite . Dr . WhowoU is of opinion that thoso Dialogues wore written after tho death of Socrates . Ho conjeoturoa that Hato thuii rtiBLoyod , himself from Athens , and retired to Megaru / with the other di ' Boipios of Socmtos . Horo , ho supposes , tlmt Plato wrote tho

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    00 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Sept . 15 , 1860

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    • The Platonic JXalognon / or English Jimden . By Wullftiij Whowoll , D . D . Ytftf . AntUophiat Dialogue * . Afuoinlllim null Co , t An Outline of the noocuaru Lam <\ f Thought ; a Treat ha on Pure and applttd ZdoiT My " viuKm Thomson , )> . !> . VU \ H Kaitlgn . tongmana « n « Co .

    Dr. Whewell's Plato.* Likelto Attend The

    DR . WHEVELL'S PLATO . *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 15, 1860, page 800, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2365/page/8/