Howbeit,— pray you hesitate not, in asking what you like, as I shall ever try to answer honestly,— if probably not in toto.
* * * * * * * * * *
Line 89 Vulgarized:
Even so, please don't feel that you can't ask me something, for no matter the question, I shall answer to the best of my ability, although my answer, due to my lack of knowledge, may not be entirely satisfactory.
Subtext:
Mason is willing to admit that he isn't an expert in everything which is the sign of a good teacher. So he's already, in this subsequent line, proving that he's a better teacher than he believes he is.
Mason also might be inventing the phrase "There are no stupid questions." I'm pretty sure Socrates didn't invent the saying because—Goddamn!—Plato asked some real humdingers.
"So picture a wolf," begins Socrates in one of his daily lectures.
"Wait. Am I picturing a real wolf or an image of what I believe a wolf is?" asks Plato from the first step of the small forum.
"Just picture a wolf, Plato."
"I just want to get this straight. If I picture a wolf in my head, it's not a real wolf. So I'm sort of confused about what you're asking." Somebody from the back of the forum winged a piece of chalk at the back of Plato's head, missing because he had the arm and aim of a philosophy nerd.
"You know what I mean, Plato. How about, since we're basically inventing philosophy, we not turn it into a weird game of supposes and actuallys?"
"I mean, sure, you can say that but you're denying the interplay of the physical world, abstract thinking, and logical deduction!"
Socrates rubs his head, sighs, and glances at the hemlock sitting on the table. "Fucking kill me now."
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