Thanks. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't getting on your nerves too much, or
that you thought I was asking just as a game, or whatever. (I know, I must have
a hard life ;->)
In fact, your vision of Socrates there very neatly fits my vision of truth, but
I got it more from Wittgenstein than from Socrates. Wittgenstein uses the
analogy of the map and the landscape: the landscape we wander on is too large
and weird to be able to understand, so we can only grasp it through the
oversimplifications we call maps. The problem is, each of our maps is incomplete
and wrong. However, for each of us, our map is useful enough that we can't do
without it. We can only revise our maps by (1) bumping into the landscape and
finding out where our oversimplifications get us into trouble, or (2) comparing
our maps to the maps of other people. (Of course, the way you quote Whitehead,
Wittgenstein might not be your main man.)
This is beginning to fit my impression of Greek grammar as well. After so many
thousands of years, you would think that the scholars could come up with a
simple, agreed upon description of Greek grammar! Ah well, I'll keep bumping
around, trying to decipher the maps I've bought...
Jonathan