Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/291

236. But if Plato entertained this opinion in regard to thought, it is in the highest degree probable that Socrates did the same; for the philosophy of Plato is founded, for the most part, on principles laid down by Socrates, and is, in fact, little more than a development of these principles. My warrant therefore, for holding that Socrates entertained the opinion in question is the undoubted fact that Plato, his immediate disciple and follower, entertained that opinion.

19. In entering on a further stage of our inquiry, I may remind you that the point towards which we are tending, the conclusion at which we are aiming, is this, that thought is quite distinct from sensation, is man's by nature, is original and primary, not secondary and derivative. It was either by resolving thought into sensation, or it was by representing it as conventional and acquired, that the Sophists had been enabled to throw into confusion both the theory and the practice of morals. In order to confute them, it was therefore necessary, above all things, to show that thought was not resolvable into sensation, but was altogether distinct therefrom, and also to show that it was original to man, and not due merely to the influences of society. To establish these two points was, I conceive, the special aim of the Socratic inquiry, which I now proceed to carry forward. We have now, then, to consider how far the conclusion which we have reached as to the nature of thought will assist us to the further conclusion which we