A Careful Obserservation of Human Nature

A careful observation of human nature after much experience and study.

“That we do not become,” he answered, “haters of reasoning as some become haters of men; for no greater evil can happen to any one than to hate reasoning. 88. But hatred of reasoning and hatred of mankind both spring from the same source. For hatred of mankind is produced in us from having placed too great reliance on some one without sufficient knowledge of him, and from having considered him to be a man altogether true, sincere, and faithful, and then after a little while finding him depraved and unfaithful, and after him another. And when a man has often experienced this, and especially from those whom he considered his most intimate and best friends, at length, having frequently stumbled, he hates all men, and thinks that there is no soundness at all in any of them. Have you not perceived that this happens so?”

“Certainly,” I replied."

"Is it not a shame?” he said, “and is it not evident that such a one attempts to deal with men, without sufficient knowledge of human affairs? For if he had dealt with them with competent knowledge, as the case really is, so he would have considered that the good and the bad are each very few in number, and that those between both are most numerous.”

“Phaedo Section 88.” Henry Cary, M.A. The Works of Plato A New and Literal Version Chiefly from the text of Stallbaum. London: George Bell & Sons, York St., Covent Garden, and New York, 1892. 51-127. Book.

 

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