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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: a system to writings belonging to an age when system had not as yet taken
possession of philosophy.
If Mr. Grote should do me the honour to read any portion of this work he
will probably remark that I have endeavoured to approach Plato from a point
of view which is opposed to his own. The aim of the Introductions in these
volumes has been to represent Plato as the father of Idealism, who is not
to be measured by the standard of utilitarianism or any other modern
philosophical system. He is the poet or maker of ideas, satisfying the
wants of his own age, providing the instruments of thought for future
generations. He is no dreamer, but a great philosophical genius struggling
with the unequal conditions of light and knowledge under which he is
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