Protarchus: Very true.
Socrates: There is a reason why I say all this.
Protarchus: What is it?
Socrates: I want to attain the plainest possible notion of pleasure and desire, as they exist in the mind only, apart from the body; and the previous analysis helps to show the nature of both.
Protarchus: Then now, Socrates, let us proceed to the next point.
Socrates: There are certainly many things to be considered in discussing the generation and whole complexion of pleasure. At the outset we must determine the nature and seat of desire.
Protarchus: Ay; let us enquire into that, for we shall lose nothing.
Socrates: Nay, Protarchus, we shall surely lose the puzzle if we find the answer.
Protarchus: A fair retort; but let us proceed.
Socrates: Did we not place hunger, thirst, and the like, in the class of desires?
Protarchus: Certainly.
Socrates: And yet they are very different; what common nature have we in view when we call them by a single name?
Protarchus: By heavens, Socrates, that is a question which is not easily answered; but it must be answered.
Socrates: Then let us go back to our examples.
Protarchus: Where shall we begin?
Socrates: Do we mean anything when we say “a man thirsts”?
Protarchus: Yes.
Socrates: We mean to say that he “is empty”?
Protarchus: Of course.
Socrates: And is not thirst desire?
Protarchus: Yes, of drink.
Socrates: Would you say of drink, or of replenishment with drink?
Protarchus: I should say, of replenishment with drink.
Socrates: Then he who is empty desires, as would appear, the opposite of what he experiences; for he is empty and desires to be full?
Protarchus: Clearly so.