S. “True; but it has been agreed already that the spirit of truth is indifferent to the question whether facts be true or false, but only concerns itself with the sincere affirmation of them, whatsoever they may be. Much more then must it be indifferent to those processes by which they are discovered.”
P. “How so?”
S. “Because it only concerns itself with affirmation concerning facts; but these processes are anterior to that affirmation.”
P. “I comprehend.”
S. “And much more is it indifferent to whether those are right processes or not.”
P. “Much more so.”
S. “It is therefore not intellectual. It remains, therefore, that it must be some merely physical faculty, like that of fearing, hungering, or enjoying the sexual appetite.”
A. “Absurd, Socrates!”
S. “That is the argument’s concern, not ours: let us follow manfully whithersoever it may lead us.”
A. “Lead on, thou sophist!”