Socrates and Glaucon are walking down from the Acropolis, when they encounter a stranger from a distant land. Caplan: Greetings, Socrates. Socrates: Greetings, stranger. From whence do you come? Caplan: I am from a faraway land. Socrates: Sparta? Thrace? Caplan: Much further out than that. Socrates: Where, then? Caplan: It is not important right now. I have heard that you are the wisest man in Athens, and I have sought your expertise. Socrates, what is the purpose of education? Socrates: To refine virtue, of course. Caplan: And so those with an education are more virtuous than those without? Socrates: Yes. Caplan: Is it not true, then, that those with an education will be entrusted with greater responsibilities? That they will be made rulers, put in charge of important military expeditions, and will be respected craftsmen? Socrates: Of course. Caplan: After a time, will men not seek out an education just for these good consequences? Socrates: They surely will. It would be better if they sought education for its own sake. Some men will seek it for its good consequences, but at least some will refine their virtues in doing so. Caplan: What if sophists took over the academies, and no longer taught virtue at all? Men would learn nothing of import, and only become educated to enter the skilled professions. Socrates: No one would trust such academies. Caplan: Perhaps. But what if the academies taught both virtue and sophistry? Would the self-interested man not take lessons so as to give the appearance of virtue, while exerting himself to the minimum extent? And imagine, Socrates, that you are employing a skilled professional. Would you not employ that man with the greatest education? Socrates: I surely would. Caplan: Is it not the case, then, that to the professionals looking for workers, it does not matter whether they had a valuable education? It only matters that their education signals them to be good workers, who will show up on time and work to th