The capitalist asks the revolutionary, “What are you rebelling against?” The
revolutionary responds with, “So…what’d you got?” Politics aside, the real
question ALWAYS is, so says who with what valid and reliable evidence?
Anything less is likely just ‘puffery’ meaning exaggeration to persuade, or
is ‘grandstanding’ to attract favorable attention, or is ‘widow-dressing’ or
‘smoke and mirrors’ to divert and distract us.
In ancient history before Christ (B.C.) in Athens, Greece, Socrates was the
first recorded moral philosopher and Greek teacher of the second recorded
moral philosopher, Plato. At the age of 71 Socrates was put on trial for
corrupting the youth and undermining Athenian traditions with his own
brand of ‘humility’ or ‘how to live by’ philosophy. The penalty for the crime
was death. Socrates defiantly addressed the jury of his peers saying,
“Gentlemen of Athens, if you kill me you will not easily find another like
me.”
Of the 500 jurors ruling at the trial, Plato reported that 280 of the 500 jurors
ruled Socrates had corrupted Athens’ youth, and that Socrates was
‘arrogant’ and must die. In an Athenian trial by a jury of 500, you needed at
least 251 favorable votes to win an acquittal. Scholars say Socrates was
condemned to death for his own ‘arrogance’. Plato said Socrates’ life may
have been spared if only he had displayed a little more ‘humility’ during his
trial. Before drinking the poison (hemlock) that would kill him, Socrates
was offered an escape out of prison if he would only renounce his ‘humble’
‘how to live by’ principles but he refused the offer and drank the poison
dying at the age of 71.
Prior to 399 B.C. before Socrates was a teacher in Athens, Greek teachers,
spread their ‘arrogance’ by indoctrinating their students with the traditions
of Athenian culture and laws not allowing students to ‘humbly’ question
Greek tradition…at least until Socrates arrived on the scene
When Socrates entered a classroom he would exhibit ‘humility’ by sitting
quietly without saying a word until his students figured out the only way
they would ever get Socrates to speak was by exhibiting their own
‘humility’ by asking him questions. ‘Humble’ questioning was the only way
to tap into Socrates’ wisdom.
Socrates was the first recorded moral philosopher teaching ‘humility’
through ‘questioning’ in his never-ending ‘humble’ search for knowledge
rather than succumbing to the never-ending, ‘arrogant’ indoctrination
being handed down by the Athenian ruling elite. Questioning displayed
‘humility’ rather than simply obeying the ‘arrogance’ of tradition being
handed down for centuries by the dogmatic ruling elite in Athens.
(Today, for example, the world’s largest asset managers, BlackRock,
Vanguard and State Street manage over 20 trillion dollars of investors’
money. BlackRock manages 10 trillion of it so most all other investment
firms follow BlackRock’s lead because whatever companies BlackRock
invests in is likely a ‘good bet’ that they will be profitable in the long run.
In 2017, BlackRock declared they would implement an ‘arrogant’ “forced
behavior” strategy forcing their own brand of social values on the world by
choosing the ‘winners and losers’ where investments would be made in
stock markets worldwide. The ‘arrogance’ of greed and the ‘humility’ of fear
drives the profits and losses made and lost in the stock market. Capitalism
acts moral but only if it does not threaten profits like BlackRock’s
investments in Communist China.
One BlackRock winner was the ‘arrogance’ of investing billions in China
opting for profit over morality by getting ‘in bed’ with the human rights
violating, freedom suppressing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) siding
against China’s persecuted population, the ‘humbled’ silent majority. The
Chinese silent majority wants to be recognized as ‘humble’, individual
human beings instead of as a one-size-fits-all, collective unit run by the
‘arrogant’ CCP. The Chinese silent majority is forced to beg the CCP for
human rights and basic freedoms, clean air and a clean sea.
Another BlackRock winner was the ‘arrogance’ of investing in the U.S.
pharmaceutical industry, an industry which only makes costly-to-the-
public, highly profitable, patentable ‘synthetic’ drugs instead of ‘humbly’
investing in drug makers who specialize in less costly, less profitable, non-
patentable, ‘natural’ remedies where only miniscule profits can be made by
comparison to their patented, ‘synthetic’, costly counterpart derivatives.
A BlackRock loser was ‘arrogantly’ denying investments into fossil fuel
industries branding fossil fuels un-investable while at the same time
pressuring big banks from even giving loans to the fossil fuel industry to
explore for and process oil for energy. Today, critics charge, the public
worldwide has been ‘humbled’ by all of BlackRock’s investment decisions
and we are all paying the price with rising prices leading to high prices for
most everything else that is made or moved.)
Socrates was a founding figure in both the aspirations and the skepticism
of Western philosophy. At his trial Socrates said, “Athens is a lazy horse
which needs rousing by a philosophical gadfly like me.” A gadfly is like a
horsefly. Being bitten by a horsefly is extremely painful. Horses go crazy
when horseflies are around.
Socrates’ crime was ‘humbly’ questioning the ‘arrogance’ of Athens’ ruling
elite and their traditions. Socrates taught his students ‘humility’ as ‘a way
of life’ and ‘how to live’ philosophy. Exhibiting his own ‘humility’, Socrates
shocked the 500 jurors at his trial saying, “What’s likely, gentlemen, is
human wisdom is worth little or nothing. We know very little making all of
us worth nothing when it comes to wisdom’. My penalty for my crime
should be free meals for life in city hall.” Plato reported jurors said
Socrates was being ‘arrogant’.
(Today, America is the lazy horse. For example, politicians and news media
pundits in their ‘arrogance’ call for the elimination of Russia’s President,
Vladimir Putin, for the war crimes being committed by Russia against
Ukraine in 2022 during the Russia/Ukraine war. The consequences of our
‘arrogance’ in eliminating Putin may ‘humble’ the world if we do not first
know who will subsequently control Russia’s 6000 nuclear warheads if
Putin goes away.
For example, America’s ‘arrogance’ took out Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in 2003
handing Iraq over to the world’s largest terrorist organization, Iran, which
was a ‘humbling’ experience for the free world since Saddam was not
working toward manufacturing nuclear weapons like Iran is manufacturing
nuclear weapons; weapons which are being sanctioned by the world’s
‘arrogant’, nuclear superpowers, Russia and China.
America’s ‘arrogance’ also allowed regional radical Arab forces to ‘take
out’ the predictable, controllable dictator of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, in
2011 as well as Egypt’s predictable, controllable, military leader, Hosni
Mubarak, in 2011 which was a ’humbling’ experience in the region when,
subsequently, unruly, unpredictable, uncontrollable, ‘arrogant’ radicals
took over both countries. America’s ‘arrogance’ of actions did not pay out
in any of the aforementioned events whereas the ‘humility’ of thoughtful
inaction and/or surgical actions may have kept all these regions balanced
and more predictable. World stability is necessary…with ‘humility’ that
favors the predictability of peace over the unpredictable ‘arrogance’ of
instability and war.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government treats its own citizens with ‘arrogance’
leaving them totally exposed, kicking and screaming with few if any
protections against a nuclear holocaust when their time comes. This is
unlike Finland’s government that lives next door to Russia. Finland quietly
and ‘humbly’ has been preparing for a nuclear holocaust since the 1960s
by a building what is equal to deep underground, nuclear bomb-proof cities
with every known amenity and facility which, to date, is large enough to
house 80% of Finland’s total population. And the building continues, they
say, until they can ‘humbly’ protect underground 100% of Finland’s
population in the event of a nuclear holocaust.
Finland’s government believes in living a ‘humble’ way of life yet in the
event of a nuclear holocaust the unruly, unpredictable, ‘arrogant’ American
government will withdraw to its own deep underground bunkers under
Washington D.C. ‘arrogantly’ abandoning America’s citizens to fend for
themselves by those the American public once ‘humbly’ relied upon for
protection. In the event of a nuclear holocaust, this is when the U.S.
citizenry will understand the ‘humility’ demonstrated by American
‘survivalists’ who have been building bunkers and stockpiling supplies that
‘arrogant’ Americans have been laughing at for the past 60 years. Not
knowing is what makes the American public…the American public.)
Socrates wrote Apologia. In Greek this does NOT mean apology, or I’m
sorry, but meant philosophy should teach ‘humility’ as ‘a way of life’
through questioning. In 399 B.C. questioning was used to defend freedoms
like free speech. This shocked the ‘arrogant’, ruling elite in Athens who
were adamantly opposed to questioning Athenian traditions.
At his trial Socrates insisted he was not the one who is ‘arrogant’. He
turned the tables on his accusers by explaining that it is their ‘arrogance’,
and their misunderstanding of Socrates’ own ‘humble’ service to
philosophy as ‘a way of life’ by questioning and defending free choice.
Could Socrates be right that his ‘way of life’, by questioning others, is
genuinely ‘humble’ and that his ‘humble’ philosophical ‘questioning’ only
appears ‘arrogant’ to those who really are the ‘arrogant’ ones? Socrates
said during his trial that ‘questioning’ could be both genuinely ‘humble’
and naturally open to the mistaken accusation of ‘arrogance’.
(In America in 2022 corporate conglomerates are known for being cowardly
and bowing to the whims of ‘arrogant’, vocal minorities. The last thing
corporate management wants to see in the news are people protesting
outside their corporate offices holding signs. In 2022, corporate ‘humility’
and neutrality, or remaining neutral on controversial issues, has incredibly
become controversial for big corporations. Today, the ‘arrogant’ vocal
minorities expect big corporations to take political ‘stands’ on
controversial issues. However, the ‘humble’ public, or silent majority,
prefers corporate ‘humility’ wishing corporations would stay out of politics.
The ‘arrogant’ few do not speak for the ‘humble’ majority. However, you
would never know this watching and listening to the news media but
remember, the ‘arrogant’ news media profits by stirring up the ‘arrogant’
few to constantly poke the eye of the ‘humble’ majority.
The same goes for abortion rights activists. Listening to the ‘arrogant’,
divisive news media you would think most ‘humble’ Americans are alright
with allowing ‘late term’ abortions where the innocent, ‘humble’, unborn
baby is literally sliced up into pieces inside the mother’s womb while too
often it is kicking and screaming experiencing horrific pain inside the
mother’s womb as the ‘arrogant’ abortionist continues to sever the spine,
legs and arms of the living baby just to be able to eventually remove the
corpse from the womb.)
In Athens in 399 B.C. understanding Socratic human wisdom and the ‘anti-
arrogant’ mission of the philosophical ‘gadfly’ invoked by Socrates is valid
and true but contrary to the expectations of the Athenian ruling elite.
What is this human wisdom? Socrates found that humans do not really
know what they think they know.
People always harbor inconsistencies in their beliefs. The more expertise
people claim to have overshadows their mistaken belief that they are also
qualified to tell people how they should live.
At his trial, Socrates tried to make his accusers ‘humble’ and said, “It
seems that most of us know little, if anything, great but we think we know
something when we do not, so…we do not know. Not knowing, I know,
makes me wiser so that I do not think I know what I do not know. You see,
wisdom consists in ‘humbly’ recognizing our own ignorance. Whereas
others ‘arrogantly’ think they know important things that they do not really
know.”
(Today, all commercial local broadcast radio and TV stations, national TV
networks and all commercial national cable TV networks in America, in
their ‘arrogance’, will not allow ‘humble’ animal rights groups to air
advertisements showing or describing how factory farm animals are
‘arrogantly’ slaughtered for human consumption. This is because
‘arrogant’ meat sellers, like McDonalds and Tyson Chicken, give lots of
money to ‘arrogant’ stations and networks to air radio and TV
advertisements to sell their meat products which financially support the
broadcast radio and TV stations and cable TV networks nationwide.
Meat-eating consumers are told by the ‘arrogant’ meat industry that factory
farm animals are humanely farmed and slaughtered when, in fact, too often
this has been documented by hidden camera video not to be true. By and
large American consumers are ‘humble’ and assume and trust. However,
watching and hearing the whole ‘arrogant’ slaughtering process at factory
farm slaughterhouses is a horror show, an act of ‘arrogance’ on full
display. Ancient philosopher and teacher of ‘humility’, Dante, said there is a
special place in Hell for those who abuse animals.
Too many factory farm animals, in acts of ‘arrogance’, are allowed to die a
slow horrific death as every imaginable screeching, gurgling, kicking and
screaming sound emanates from dying animals echoing throughout the
slaughterhouse. Critics charge, every meat-eater should be ‘humbled’ and
MUST, as they say, witness ‘how sausage is made’.)
During Socrates’ life he debated all Athens’ ‘pretenders of wisdom’. For
example, Socrates debated Athens’ professional teachers of virtue, and the
prosecutors or cross-examiners, the mercenaries, the aspiring statesmen
as well as Athens’ so-called ‘practical politicians’ or ‘Sophists’. Sophists
were the Athenian ‘sophisticates’ of persuasion or what we call in informal,
casual conversation today…the ‘bullshitters’ who persuade by any means
necessary to legitimately or illegitimately gain a desired end.
Socrates’ mission of teaching philosophy as ‘a way of life’, a life of
‘humility’, was a philosophical attack on ‘arrogance’. ‘Arrogance’ can range
from violence to outrageous behavior like looking down on others with an
inappropriate sense of superiority which Socrates suggested is unworthy
and exceeds the limits of human nature.
For example, those who cheat fate exceed the limits of human nature, like
Icarus who wanted to escape from Crete and designed a set of wings made
from feathers and wax then flew too high to close to the sun and the wax
melted. Those who try to cheat fate breed ‘arrogance’, and they will
eventually fail or be punished thinking they are better than they are and not
knowing their proper place…not knowing ’humility’. Nothing exceeds like
excess and thus Socrates preferred ‘humility’ over ‘arrogance’ in the quest
for knowledge.
Knowing facts and figures is NOT knowledge but the ‘arrogance’ of
knowledge. Socrates said, knowledge is a PROCESS, applying the criterion
of ‘consistency with unprecedented rigorous thought’ (reliability) to come
up with standards and proper definitions (validity). This process is what
really counts as obtaining knowledge,” meaning knowledge is a process
and a never-ending quest for knowledge. Knowledge is fluid not constant.
Socrates exposed intellectual laziness and ‘arrogance’ by exhibiting his
own ignorance and reminding others of theirs which exhibits ‘humility’. But
those who are unwilling or unable to recognize their own ‘arrogance’ are
likely to interpret Socrates as a know-it-all or ‘arrogant wise guy’ who gets
pleasure from defeating and humiliating others. Socrates’ detractors, the
sophisticated ruling elite, hated seeing traditions questioned and the pillars
of Athenian society refuted.
Those who think they already know something will, of course, not try to
learn it. So, when Socrates showed someone that they do not really know
what they thought they knew, he is providing a necessary condition for
them to learn it. Recognizing the problem is the first step to forming a
solution and helping people recognize what has yet to be learned. When
people get upset with Socrates for refuting them, and consider him
‘arrogant’ for doing so, they are really testifying to their own ‘arrogance’.
(Today and for decades, when there are mass shootings and/or bombings
resulting in scores of innocent people being killed and injured, all the usual
suspects, activists and political pundits, arrive on the scene to display their
‘arrogance’ and exploit the corpses for political ends without sincerely or
‘humbly’ expressing sadness over the corpses. Instead, the activists and
politicians will cite the need to control ‘arrogance’, like hate speech, rather
than ‘humbly’ treating all people as ‘responsible’ human beings as a way of
life. The problem with defining hate speech is it too often turns out that the
definition of hate speech is speech the ruling elite hates.
Consequently, after acts of mass violence no one EVER addresses the
immediate problem with an immediate solution. Albeit no solution works
perfectly to stop violence against innocents. But nevertheless, at least
some sort of ‘humble’, patchwork solution should be immediately adopted
to deal with the problem right now in the ‘here and now’ which may be
better compared to what we have now in America which is in effect inaction
while we sit ‘humbly’ by watching decade after decade of mass violence on
innocents in America.
For example, in Israel all ‘soft targets’, everything from malls to schools to
buses to shopping centers to cinemas and everything else in between, all
‘soft targets’ have been ‘humbly’ hardened with X-ray machines at
entrances and the equivalent of military type guards with body armor
always standing nearby carrying high powered weaponry and they are
always ready to shoot to kill to protect the ‘humble’, unprotected innocent.
A ‘humble’ fear of consequences can help prevent ‘arrogant’ acts of
violence.
In their ‘humility’ the Israeli government and the business communities
everywhere in Israel all realize that hardening soft targets is the ‘cost of
doing business’ which is passed on to the public in higher prices until
better solutions are considered and adopted like possibly eliminating
violent DNA from the population. To date, hardening soft targets has been
the only way so far to possibly inhibit ‘arrogant’ mass shooters and
bombers from carrying out ‘arrogant’ acts of mass violence, and possibly
giving the public at least some ‘humble’ peace of mind that they will have a
decent chance of being protected when they venture out to public places.
Some say for further protection, if all adults were ‘humbly’ armed with
guns, those adults who wanted to carry guns, they would have a chance at
killing mass shooters and bombers ‘before’ they carry out or during their
heinous acts of mass destruction possibly saving countless innocent lives.
At least a ‘humble’ fear of consequences of ‘on the spot’ vigilante justice
against ‘arrogant’ shooters and bombers would be on the minds of those
considering committing heinous acts of violence. If you were considering
carrying out an ‘arrogant’ act of killing innocent people, would you want
the tables turned on you and have a mob descending upon you filling you
full of bullet holes, even torturing you with knives, then leaving you to die a
slow, agonizing death with a mad crowd kicking in your teeth and eyes
while shouting obscenities at you as you bleed out and die before the
police and/or medics even arrive to take control?
Also useful in possibly inhibiting some heinous acts of violence and
possibly instilling the ‘humble’ fear of consequences in some violent
actors would be a Victims Bill of Rights. Once a violent criminal is
convicted in a court of law the victim(s) of violence would be offered ‘the
legal right’ to mete out their own form of justice on the convicted criminal.
If the victim(s) did not want to ‘personally’ mete out WHATEVER humane or
inhumane punishment/justice they so choose then they could get their
friends or relatives to do it or even hire a mercenary or vigilante to ‘do the
work’. The final option would be to use the legal system which we already
have in place today where the victim(s) would simply allow the current
justice system to mete out whatever punishment the court sees fit for the
violent crime committed.)
In 2022, philosophers are still too often considered to be argumentative
‘tricksters’. However, Socrates’ mission was in ‘questioning’ to avoid
‘arrogance’ in the search for knowledge using rigorous logical standards,
conducted by people ‘without’ final answers which is as difficult as ever.
Socrates said ‘humility’ is, “He who knows best knows how little he
knows.” There is no reason to try to learn until we are convinced of our
own ignorance…and ‘arrogance’.
The ‘Socratic Method’ taught in American law schools demands that
students of law keep answering questions about legal reasoning until they
fail. Meanwhile, what is learned in the process is engagement, preparation
and logic to understand difficult issues. The humiliation of failure breeds
anger if you are ‘arrogant’ when, as ‘a way of life’, should instead promote
a ‘humble’ determination to keep improving one’s understanding and
curiosity.
‘Socratic questioning’ promotes free expression, self-esteem, and
toleration of diverse opinions supporting a healthy tolerance for
indifference. The Socratic Method recognizes the extent of our ignorance.
Understanding this means we are not completely ignorant.
But our ignorance can prevent us from recognizing our ‘arrogance’. When
we correct others, and even take time to confront and refute others, we can
follow Socrates’ lead and, in the process, be willing to also take the time to
reveal our own ignorance and ‘humility’ as well, in the hope that we are
genuinely siding with ‘humility’ against ‘arrogance’.
‘Humility’ is not denying your strengths but is being honest about your
weaknesses and staying teachable regardless of how much you know. The
‘arrogant’ drunk uses their own drunkenness as an excuse for losing. The
biggest indoor sport is feeling sorry for yourself…and ‘humbly’ realizing
feeling sorry for yourself is for born losers.
Natural storms, fires and earthquakes are all part of the Earth’s
evolutionary process. Scientists claim 99% of the Earth’s
species have already gone extinct and that every 20 minutes
another species may disappear. Scientists admit that extinction
is probably inevitable including the extinction of mankind due to
the natural selection of nature. Life is such a valuable
commodity…every day what you do with your friends, your time,
your family is so important for the ‘five minutes’ or so that we
have been blessed with inhabiting this glorious planet.
All the evil in the world is caused by the ‘arrogance’ of people.
However, planet Earth is ‘humble’ and can accommodate and
assimilate anything mere people throw at it…and in time will
absorb it all…like nothing more than ants at a picnic. When your
hands can find work ‘humbly’ take the work as there is no work,
no knowledge, no joy and no love in the grave.
SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: DR. GLENN RAWSON, PhD,
“HUMILITY VERSUS ARROGANCE IN THE SOCRATIC METHOD
OF PHILOSOPHY” 2005