system of absolute morality, and contains the germ of all the ethical speculations, whether polemical or positive, which have been unfolded since his time.
34. I shall make no further attempt at present to reduce the philosophy of Socrates to greater precision than has been done in the foregoing exposition. I go on to call your attention to a few points connected with Socrates and his philosophy, with which you should be made acquainted before we dismiss this subject. The first point is, that all rational knowledge must be elicited from within the mind, and cannot be imparted to it from without. The Socratic art of education, therefore, consists rather in a skilful method by which the mind is made to evolve truth out of itself, than in a method by which truth is communicated to the mind by another person. The second point is the somewhat paradoxical assertion, that all virtue is knowledge and all vice ignorance. The third point is the assertion that no man is voluntarily vicious. The fourth point for consideration is, What, according to Socrates, is the supreme good the chief end, of man? The fifth consideration is, What, in the system of Socrates, is the ground of moral obligation? The sixth point for consideration is, How virtue and happiness are reconciled and united in the system of Socrates. On some of these points it may be difficult, perhaps impossible, to come to any very satisfactory conclusion; but I shall do what
