No Response
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In what may be called the epilogue of the discussion with Thrasymachus,
Plato argues that evil is not a principle of strength, but of discord
and dissolution, just touching the question which has been often treated
in modern times by theologians and philosophers, of the negative nature
of evil. In the last argument we trace the germ of the Aristotelian
doctrine of an end and a virtue directed towards the end, which again is
suggested by the arts. The final reconcilement of justice and happiness
and the identity of the individual and the State are also intimated.
Socrates reassumes the character of a 'know-nothing;' at the same time
he appears to be not wholly satisfied with the manner in which the
argument has been conducted. Nothing is concluded; but the tendency of
the dialectical process, here as always, is to enlarge our conception of
ideas, and to widen their application to human life.