Posted on 05/18/2023 12:23:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The ancient Greek philosopher’s ‘know nothing’ credo could be the balm for our polarized times
A common complaint in America today is that politics and even society as a whole are broken. Critics point out endless lists of what should be fixed: the complexity of the tax code, or immigration reform, or the inefficiency of government.
But each dilemma usually comes down to polarized deadlock between two competing visions and everyone’s conviction that theirs is the right one. Perhaps this white-knuckled insistence on being right is the root cause of the societal fissure – why everything seems so irreparably wrong.
As religion and philosophy scholars, we would argue that our apparent national impasse points to a lack of “epistemic humility,” or intellectual humility – that is, an inability to acknowledge, empathize with and ultimately compromise with opinions and perspectives different from one’s own. In other words, Americans have stopped listening.
So why is intellectual humility in such scarce supply? Of course, the quickest answer might be the right one: that humility runs against most people’s fear of being mistaken, and the zero-sum view that being right means someone else has to be totally wrong.
But we think that the problem is more complex and perhaps more interesting. We believe epistemic humility presents something of a twofold danger that makes being humble frightening – and has, ever since Socrates first put it at the heart of Western philosophy.
Knowing you don’t know
If your best friend told you that you were the wisest of all human beings, perhaps you would be inclined to smile in agreement and take the dear friend for a beer. But when the ancient Athenian Socrates was delivered this news, he responded with sincere and utter disbelief – even though his friend had confirmed it with the Delphic oracle, the fortune-telling authority of the ancient world.
This nascent humility – “No, get out of here, I’m definitely not the wisest” – helped spark what became arguably the greatest philosophical life of all time.
Despite relative old age, Socrates immediately embarked on a journey to find someone wiser than himself and spent many days seeking out the sages of the ancient world, a quest Plato recounts in his “Apology of Socrates.”
The problem? He discovered that the sages thought they knew more than they actually did. Eventually, Socrates concluded that he himself was, in fact, the wisest of all men, because at least he “knew that he didn’t know.”
This is not to say that Socrates knew nothing: He demonstrates time and again that he knows a lot and routinely demonstrated good judgment. Rather, he acknowledged there were definite limitations to the knowledge he could claim.
This is the birth of “epistemic humility” in Western philosophy: the acknowledgment that one’s blind spots and shortcomings are an invitation for ongoing intellectual investigation and growth.
Provoking the powerful
But this mindset can feel dangerous to other people – especially if they feel absolutely certain in their convictions.
In ancient Athens, as much as in the U.S. today, being perceived as right translated into money and power. The city-state’s culture was dominated by the Sophists, who taught rhetoric to nobles and politicians, and the Poets, ancient playwrights. Greek theater and epic poetry were closely related to religion, and their creators were treated as mouthpieces for aesthetic and moral truth.
What’s more, theater and poetry were also major moneymakers, which motivated artists to adopt a mentality of “fail fast, fail better,” with an eye to eventually proving correct and getting paid.
By critically interrogating the idols and polarized views of his culture, Socrates threatened the power holders of his city. A constantly questioning figure is a direct threat to individuals who spend their lives defending unquestioned belief – whether it’s belief in themselves, their superiors or their gods.
Take Euthyphro, for example, one of Socrates’ principal interlocutors. Euthyphro is so sure that he knows the difference between right and wrong that he is bringing his own father to trial. Socrates quickly disabuses him of his certainty, famously debating him about the true meaning of piety.
Or take Meletus, the man who eventually brought Socrates to trial on accusations of corrupting youth. In Plato’s account of the trial, it takes Socrates no time to show this “good patriot,” as Meletus calls himself, that he does not understand what patriotism truly means. Without any pretensions to knowing the absolute truth, Socrates is able to shed light on the underlying assumptions around him.
It’s frustrating to read the Platonic dialogues, the works of philosophy that recount Socrates’ life and teaching, in part because Socrates rarely claims the final word on any subject. In short, he gives more questions than answers. But what remains constant is his openness to uncertainty that keeps his inquiry on the move, pushing his inquiries further and deeper.
Paying the price
The second danger of epistemic humility is now probably in view. It’s the danger that Socrates faced when he was brought to trial for corrupting Athens’ youth – the danger to the humble skeptics themselves.
He is brought up on two very serious charges. The first was an accusation that he taught students to make the weaker argument appear to be the stronger – which is actually what the Sophists did, not Socrates. The second was that he had invented new gods – again, he didn’t do that; poets and playwrights did.
What was he really guilty of? Perhaps only this: Socrates criticized the arrogant self-assertion of his culture’s influencers, and they brought him to trial, which concluded in his death sentence.
Socrates taught that being humble about one’s own views was a necessary step in searching for truth – perhaps the most essential one. That was and perhaps still is a revolutionary view, because it forces us to challenge preconceived ideas about what we believe, what we worship and where we tap meaning.
He placed himself in the middle of Athenians’ sharply polarized debates about what truth and goodness were, and he was the one who got hit.
“Humility like darkness,” wrote American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, “reveals the heavenly lights.” Put another way, humility about the verity, accuracy and wisdom of one’s ideas can reveal the fact that others have understandable reasons for thinking as they do — as long as you try to see the world as they are seeing it. In contrast, arrogance tends to extinguish the “heavenly light” about what we still don’t fully understand.
Being humble about one’s position in the world is not an invitation for a post-truth, anything-goes opinion free-for-all. Truth – the idea of truth – matters. And we can pursue it together, if we are always open to being wrong.
J. W. Traphagan is a professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Texas at Austin. John J. Kaag is a philosophy professor at UMass/Lowell. They wrote this piece for The Conversation, where it first appeared.
The Rats have gone full commie and are sexually mutilating children. That’s a fact.
Socrates was a jerk.
Soo... someone is pushing back a little, isn't that what you're really saying?
The left does not need to be convinced. The left needs to be converted: to experience, since we're talking Greek philosophy, metanoia, a complete change of one's basic principles. That will not come from Socratic dialogue. It requires a complete reassessment of one's thinking, something that usually comes about only after a full collapse of one's own life. A complete American collapse may come about in our lifetime, but we're still a long way from becoming Zimbabwe or Sri Lanka.
After years of attacking various preferences of patriotic conservatives, the Demonicrats, with the help of other Marxists, are now attacking the absolute values of patriotic conservatives. The Demonicrat declare such stated values are hate speech and should be banned. The Demonicrats refuse to compromise on their attacks and the conservative, mostly Christian, patriots also refuse to abandon their absolute values.
There is no longer any reason or intention to listen or negotiate with the other side. The Demonicrats have now unleashed their plan of violence, arson, murder, perversion, and riots to bring about the destruction of patriotic Americans.
Things are likely to get worse rather than better. One side will have to lose and lose big time! It will not be pretty.
True.
And I have heard religious types counsel us to be the ones to be meekly silent and compromising when confronted by Leftist relatives, coworkers and all others. Avoid confrontations. Love thy neighbor.
Fold our hands at family gatherings and holidays or be verbally abused and kicked out and locked out for next time.
Why not THEM?
Don’t try to convince me they aren’t going to be silent about the government taking us away in trucks to the concentration camps.
“They deserved it. Yeah, they supported Trump. They were against a woman’s right to choose abortion.
They didn’t keep quiet when we canceled them on social media.”
This is so incorrect as to make one laugh.
The problem is NOT that we disagree on what is right - the problem is that the left WILL NOT let us live with our version, insisting instead that we adopt theirs, and they will indoctrinate our children in their beliefs.
Conservatives (for the most part) are live-and-let-live people - I certainly am - but when a leftist starts imposing their views on me and mine, I get a little cantankerous.
The left is wrong on most every subject, and the state of the country is evidence that this is so.
Put another way, humility about the verity, accuracy and wisdom of one’s ideas can reveal the fact that others have understandable reasons for thinking as they do — as long as you try to see the world as they are seeing it. In contrast, arrogance tends to extinguish the “heavenly light” about what we still don’t fully understand.
Do liberal radical types, ever try to see the world as we conservatives do? Do they ever think that we have understandable reasons for thinking as we do???
they change the meanings of words to fit their lies
make nonstop baseless specious accusations
and call us every name in the book
how do you have a discussion with people like that?
Waste of time. Talking to a SCOTUS judge who doesn’t know what a woman is? A man competing in woman’s sports? The women won’t stand ups for themselves.
There is No reason to listen to Socalist and marxist rantings and no reasoning with them. Just pray that they get saved.
Actual demons called. They object to being compared to the Democrats.
Since the link is from a Pennsylvania Paper even though the authors aren’t I’ll translate it into John Fetterman speak:
Good night. Speaking Socrates so many many speakings. To listen so many many.
I’m not making fun of people with brain trauma either. I’m insulting the evil bastards who are behind the man.
I always try to use the Socratic argument style with leftists. It doesn’t work. They get emotional and angry.
While I get the thought that I (and let me say Trump, because that’s the obvious real target here) may not agree we don’t “know everything” with humility, but I do know Democrats today (actual Bolsheviks in reality) want me defeated and gone probably most happy if I were dead.
So while we may always be people with the greatest level of humility, we are certainly not wrong about where the intended end game of our enemies is going.
If you haven’t figured out that this is literally war to the death of us and our country yet then there’s no hope for you.
Humility today is a luxury our freedom cannot afford right now.
Trump’s lack of humility has harmed the right and helped the left, and I think that was always the point.
I’d like to talk with Bill and Ted because they were Excellent.
I reject that depiction.
The Left won’t listen to reason.
The Right is willing to listen but it knows the weakness of
listening to people too stupid to look at history and avoid the
same mistakes that destroyed every nation where Communism
was installed.
This destructive politically correct war that is going on
here in the United States is also something that cannot
produce anything productive. It’s just a destructive tool
being used to being down this nation.
The Left is melting down.
Totally agree.
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