Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 88
GREEK PHILOSOPHY he quotes Socrates himself to bring this point home. Of his perfectly rational attitude, Socrates is known to have said: 'Not now for the first time, but always, I am the sort of man who is persuaded by nothing in me except the proposition which appears to me to be the best when I reason (LoyɩÇoµέµ) about it. 10. Despite his emphasis on reason he appears to Vlastos to be a superstitious man when it comes to his personal experience. Thus he writes: ‘And yet he is also committed to obeying commands reaching him through supernatural channels. '10. To support his contention, Vlastos quotes Socrates during his trial: 'To do this has been commanded me, as I maintain, by the god through divinations and through dreams and every other means through which divine apportionment has ever commanded anyone to do anything. '10. Having postulated this, Vlastos has written a long discourse on absolving Socrates of what he himself admits of his spiritual experience. Through an involved logic, he finally assumes that Socrates did not genuinely believe in what appears to be his personal confession. Yet despite all his scholarly effort, Vlastos fails to achieve this purpose. . Read again for instance the above quoted passage by. Vlastos beginning with the words 'To do this has been commanded me, . . . 10 and note that the word God used by Socrates is in the singular, yet the author prefers to write it with a small ‘g'. . This statement of Socrates, concerning his personal experience of Divine dreams, revelations and specific 88