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3 Book I u p r e l i m i n a r i e s u [M]a  lista e ◊pimelhte on o¤pwc e¤kastoc h ÿmw ÷ n tw ÷ n a ⁄llwn majhma  twn a ◊melh  sac tou tou tou ÷ majh  matoc kai  zhthth c kai  majhth c e ⁄stai, e ◊a  n pojen oi flo c t' v fi majei ÷n kai  e ◊qeurei ÷n, ti c au ◊to n poih  sei dunato n kai  e ◊pisth  mona, bi on kai  xrhsto n kai  ponhro n diagignw  skonta, to n belti w e ◊k tw ÷ n dunatw ÷ n a ◊ei  pantaxou ÷ ai ÿrei ÷sjai, [kai ] a ◊nalogizo menon pa  nta ta  nu ÷n dh  r ÿhje nta, quntije mena a ◊llh  loic kai  diairou mena pro c a ◊reth n bi ou pw ÷ c e ⁄xei, ei ◊de nai, ti  ka  lloc peni a Ÿ h ‹ plou tw Ÿ kraje n kai  meta  poi ac tino c yuxh ÷c e¤qewc kako n h ‹ a ◊gajo n e ◊rga  zetai, [kai  ti  eu ◊ge neiai kai  dusge neiai kai  i ◊diwtei ÷ai kai  arxai  kai  i ◊sxu ec kai  a ◊sje neiai kai  eu ◊ma  jeiai kai  dusma  jeiai ]* kai  pa  nta ta  toiau ÷ta tw ÷ n fu sei peri  yuxh n o ⁄ntwn kai  tw ÷ n e ◊pikth  twn ti  qugkerannu mena pro c a ⁄llhla e ◊rga  zetai, w¤ ste e ◊q a ÿpa  ntwn au ◊tw ÷ n dunato n ei finai sullogisa  menon ai ÿrei ÷sjai, pro c th  n th ÷c yuxh ÷c fu sin a ◊poble ponta, to n te xei rw kai  to n a ◊mei nw bi on.1 —Plat. de Repub. Lib. 10. *The bracketed material was omitted in the original. 1. Plato, The Republic. X.618c–d. Every single one of us has to give his undivided attention—to the detriment of all other areas of study—to trying to track down and discover whether there is anyone he can discover and unearth anywhere who can give him the competence and knowledge to distinguish a good life from a bad one, and to choose a better life from among all the possibilities that surround him at any given moment . He has to weigh up all the things we’ve been talking about, so as to know what bearing they have, in combination and in isolation, on living a good life. What are the good or bad results of mixing good looks with poverty or with 4 book i Human Knowledge has been distributed by Philosophers into different Branches, and into more or fewer Divisions, according to the more or less extensive Views, which they have taken of the various Subjects of Human Enquiry. A great Philosopher* has laid it out into three general Provinces, History , Poetry, and Philosophy; which he refers to three several Powers of the Mind, Memory, Imagination, and Reason. Memory stores up Facts, or Ideas, which are the Materials of Knowledge. Imagination ranges and combines them into different Assemblages or Pictures . Reason observes their Differences, Connections, and mutual Relations , and argues concerning them. The last is the proper Business of Philosophy, which has been de- fined, the “Knowledge of whatever exists,”2 or the “Science of Things Human and Divine.”3 According to this Definition, its Object comprehends the Universe or Whole of Things. It traces whatever can be known by Man concerning the Deity and his Works, their Natures, Powers, Operations, and Connections. wealth, in conjunction with such-and-such a mental condition? What are the effects of the various combinations of innate and acquired characteristics such as high and low birth [involvement and lack of involvement in politics, physical strength and frailty, cleverness and stupidity, and so on]? He has to be able to take into consideration the nature of the mind and so make a rational choice, from among all the alternatives, between a better and a worse life.” Plato, Republic, trans. Robin Watterfield (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 376. In the preceding extract, the square brackets signify words that were omitted by Fordyce. *Vid. Bacon. Aug. Scient. Lib. II. cap. 1. [Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam (1561–1626), was an English philosopher, statesman, and scientist, one of whose projects was the reform of education. His De dignitate et augmentis scientarium (1623) is a translation and elaboration of his The Advancement of Learning (1605). For Fordyce ’s admiration of Bacon see his fulsome praise in A Brief Account, paragraph 33.] 2. In his...

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