By the god of Friendship

At the very, very end of the Gorgias, Socrates turns to friendship and teaching:

"So listen to me and follow me to where I am, and when you've come here you'll be happy both during life and at its end, as the account indicates. ... Nothing terrible will happen to you if you really are an admirable and good man, one who practices excellence. And then, after we've practiced it together, then at last, if we think we should, we'll turn to politics, or then we'll deliberate about whatever subject we please, when we're better at deliberating than we are now. For it's a shameful thing for us, being in the condition we appear to be at present--when we never think the same about the same subjects, the most important ones at that--to sound off as though we're somebodies. That's how far behind in education we've fallen. So let's use the account that has now been disclosed to us as out guide, one that indicates to us that this way of life is the best, to practice justice and the rest of excellence both in life and in death. Let us follow it, then, and call on others to do so, too..."

I like this ending--it seems to me that it argues that practice precedes theory--we can't always talk well about the things that we don't know. In fact, Oakeshott would tell us that it is very dangerous to divorce theory from practice if we want our theory to have any practical implications. What this passage contributes is the idea of practicing together--practicing in community--in order to be able to converse together well.