Below are a few select statements from Socrates comparing knowledge with true opinion. Given the distrust of opinion in academia, one might expect Socrates to value knowledge more than opinion. His two qualifiers are worth noting: he is only comparing knowledge to "true" opinion, and he is only identifying them as equal in terms of being useful, either for "proper action" (virtue) or "the right course of action for their cities" (deliberative rhetoric, or to use Plato's term, "advisory" rhetoric).
"So
true opinion is in no way an inferior guide to action than knowledge.
This is what we overlooked in our investigation of the nature of virtue, when
we said only knowledge can culminate in proper action; for true opinion can do just
as well.
"True
opinion, then, is neither inferior to knowledge nor does less good in action,
no does the man who has true opinion in lieu of knowledge come off the worse.
Therefore,
if it isn’t through knowledge, the only alternative is that it is through true
opinion
that statesmen settle on the right course for their cities. As regards
knowledge,
they
are no different from seers and prophets. They too say many true things when
the
divine
inspiration strikes them, but they don’t actually know what they are
talking about."
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