Confused Philosophy: My take on philosophy - Socrates' the wisest man who knew nothing!
Socrates' the wisest man who knew nothing!
Since joining Steemit I have loved reading the #philosophy tag more than any other. So much so that it has encouraged me to delve further into the subject both on Steemit and other sources.
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This series will follow my self-introduction into the world of philosophy and associated thoughts. Philosophy as I am finding, is an interesting yet never ending subject that could take a lifetime of energy with no hope of mastering it, but given the Greek meaning of the word philosophy is "love of wisdom". The aim was never to master it but to continue to learn from it. I do hope that my thoughts will provoke thoughts in you that will make there way to my comments and in turn will spark additional thoughts in me.
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This is what I love about philosophy, there are no absolute truths, each question raises another question and it all depends on the person asking and interpreting. I know we are talking about Socrates but first lets look back at Aristotle's syllogism's, if we were to apply that logic we could arrive at "Socrates was wise; Socrates was a man; all men are wise." Socrates himself would be one of the first people to argue that he indeed knew nothing and therefore questioned everything, something we should all do more often. Image Source
Absolute truth is something that is true at all times and in all places. It is something that is always true no matter what the circumstances. It is a fact that cannot be changed. For example, there are no round squares. ... One way or another, these are all truths because they are logically true.
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Ok, so there are some absolute truths but what's interesting is that a lot of things that we hold as absolute truths when questioned will be found to be wrong as there are always exceptions to the rule so therefore its not an absolute truth. One form of this questioning is know as Socratic irony.
Ask enough questions and eventually there will be an opening to challenge the initial truth. Some thought this to be quite an aggressive way of approaching the arguments. This didn't stop Socrates holding true to his methods and teaching his students to do the same, leading to his forced suicide after being found guilty of "godlessness" and "corruption of the young". In spite of his death his methods are still used today.
The Socratic method, also can be known as elenctic method, or Socratic debate, is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presumptions. Source
How many times have you gotten angry over someone questioning what you hold as true? Have you ever thought to question your own truths or do you just know they are true therefore you don't need to question them? What if your truths when questioned aren't truths at all? Does that change anything or are you exactly where you were?
True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. Socrates
The aim for this post series to engage with other Steemian's and develop relationships while challenging my thoughts. If you would like to join me on this journey don't forget to follow me @insideoutlet. My hubby @shai-hulud is also worth a look in and has a wonderful Alphabet Adventure series going.
If you find value in my work an upvote and/or resteem would be greatly appreciated, although never required to read and comment on my post. I look forward to getting to know you all better while debating the ins and outs of life itself.
Welcome to 2018!!! A year for the love of wisdom!
Philosophy is a life time adventure, i will say it has beginning but doesn't have an end, you keep thinking rationally till the day you take your last breath.
I agree, the more I look into it the complicated it is. not that I ever thought it was going to be easy.
i think as human beings we need to keep making question and question to seek the truth. Doing that we will become better in every aspect and if our ''truth'' is shuttered we shouldn't be angry or something it's what it is
I think you’ve just highlighted the reason why Internet trolls like the Socratic method - it can provoke an angry response.
So true... I never put the two together but the Socratic method is exactly what they use...
Heh. Whether Socrates was humble or arrogant (he was pretty arrogant), I don’t think his intention was to piss people off. He really was searching for truth, and trying to get the citizens around him to understand that their assumptions were not always valid. Trolls, on the other hand, are just looking for a reaction.
Agreed. I think there is some middle ground /over lap on the scale between socratic method and trolling ( i.e: feminists saying men are trash) but most trolls who are the trolliest simply exist for their own enjoyment. They just want to fuvk with ppl and biebe its not onlh their right, but their duty to be an asshat.
On the other hand some ppl accidentalky troll and try to use socratic method by asking rhetorical questions with forced and loaded answers. Usualky that becomes a thing of ppl answering in the form of another rhetorical question. Its a mess
I may sometimes be guilty of the latter. :) However, to go back to Socrates: I don't think he asked what we would consider "rhetorical questions" - which, to me, means: a question that is not necessary to answer, since it is obvious. While the people he questioned may have first thought the answers to be obvious, Socrates' whole point was to show that answers to such questions are usually more complicated and hard to discern.
Thank you for sharing! I gave you a vote!!
Thanks for the upvote! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by.
Sometimes you have to know that there is a lot to know to know that you don't really know very much at all... I guess that's the wisdom of those that have accumulated so much knowledge and are yet still so humble. I think you might be interested in some of the discussions on kialo.com if you haven't been there yet :)
Thanks for that, all signed up now. It looks very interesting.
While Socrates claimed he knew nothing, he sure as Hades knew that he knew more than anyone else in Athens. 😃 Thus the Socratic irony. Also, I like how Plato has Socrates define philosophy in the Symposium: philosophy is the love of wisdom; to love something is to desire it; and to desire something is to not have it; thus true philosophers know they are not wise. — or something like that!
I’m actually just beginning to put the art together for a graphic novel about Socrates and his trial and execution. I’d love you to check it out if you get a free moment. (It’s the posts marked Polis, not Lesbian Zombies.)
Thanks, I have checked it out and commented.
"Confused philosophy" i dig it!!! I dont normally say this but i think you will like my stuff. We have a similar style, except im more dramatic and long-winded. Aldo, are u on discord?
Yes I'm on discord. Same name as here. 😁 I'll Check out your feed.
Great post. I love the spirit you've brought in to this Steem world.
Thank you.
yes we will never master all! <3