Note 61 — Chapter XXVII · PARMENIDES.
Reading edition
Plato, Parmenides, p. 137 B; compare Sophistes, p. 217 D.
To understand the force of this remark of Parmenides, we should contrast it with the precepts given by Aristotle in the Topica for dialectic debate: precepts teaching the questioner how to puzzle, and the respondent how to avoid being puzzled. Such precautions are advised to the respondent by Aristotle, not merely in the Topica but also in the Analytica — χρὴ δ’ ὅπερ φυλάττεσθαι παραγγέλλομεν ἀποκρινομένους, αὐτοὺς ἐπιχειροῦντας πειρᾶσθαι λανθάνειν (Anal. Priora, ii. p. 66, a. 33).