Artifacts

Artifacts 

The only real education comes from what goes counter to you. —Andre Gide

"For I have actually known some who were ready to bite me when I deprived them of a darling folly; they did not perceive that I acted from good will, not knowing that no god is the enemy of man that was not within the range of their ideas; neither am I their enemy in all this, but it would be wrong for me to admit falsehood, or to stifle the truth." 

Using 'this' or 'that' as a way to equivocate?

For I have actually known some [men] || 

who were ready to bite me || 

when I deprived them of || a darling folly; || 

they did not perceive || 

that I acted from good will, ||

[they] not knowing that || 

no god is the enemy of man || 

that was not within the range of their ideas; ||

neither am I || their enemy in all || 

this, || 

but it would be wrong for me to admit || 

falsehood, || or [for me] to stifle || the truth. 

Convolution as a way to conceal?

No god is the enemy of man[kind]; that was not within the range of their ideas.

[Spock: Within range of our sensors, there is no life other than the accountable human residents of this colony beneath…]

If that god was not within their understanding, then no god is their [man's] enemy.

No god is the enemy of a man who is not within their [gods'] understanding.

Not knowing that no god is the enemy of man[,] that was not within the range of their ideas.

['Theaetetus' dialogue by Plato; written 360 B.C.E; translated by Benjamin Jowett]

"The range of their ideas":

• Argument to moderation – Informal fallacy that the truth is always a compromise, even if such a position is unfeasible
• Comfort zone – Psychological state
• Creeping normality – Process by which a change can be accepted through happening slowly
• Door-in-the-face technique – Persuasion technique
• Hallin's spheres – Theory of media objectivity
• Moral relativism – Philosophical positions about the differences in moral judgments across peoples and cultures
• Normalization – Social processes through which ideas and actions come to be seen as normal
• Opinion corridor – Theory of legitimate public discourse
• Overton window – The range of subjects and arguments politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. 
• Paradox of tolerance – Logical paradox in decision-making theory
• Ratchet effect – Restrained ability of human process reversal
• Sanewashing – Downplaying the radical aspects of a person or idea
• Single-issue politics – Political campaigning or support based on one essential policy goal

nb: If Jowett had thought Plato meant 'ideas' as 'forms,' I think he probably would have translated the phrase as "the range of their forms," right?