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I disagree with this conclusion pretty strongly (not sure if it's satire or not). Though social media could be considered dialog, I think Socrates was likely ta

I disagree with this conclusion pretty strongly (not sure if it's satire or not). Though social media could be considered dialog, I think Socrates was likely talking about face to face interaction being the pinnacle of knowledge sharing: nonverbal signals, back and forth, tone, etc all being key parts of this.

wahern 7y ago
When Socrates and other ancient philosophers criticize writing, it's not because of the lack of in-person, non-verbal signals--at least, not directly. It's because they had peculiar beliefs about the origin and nature of knowledge. As alluded to in the post, in their epistemologies memory isn't just a way to recall facts, but often considered the very seat of knowledge and even reality itself. Plato takes this to an extreme with his Platonic forms, which exist and are slowly revealed as memories. Suffice it to say the contention of the anti-writing crowd was that writing as a medium conflicted with the nature and/or embodiment of knowledge. This conflation of knowledge and memory persisted up to at least Augustine. Note that not all these philosophers were anti-writing, just that you can't understand the debate without understanding the premises. Would Socrates be cool with electronic Socratic dialogue? I know enough to know that I don't know enough to be able to say one way or another. As far as I understand, Plato had different theories about knowledge and memory than Socrates, though both (in keeping with the era) emphasized their interrelationship. So we should be skeptical that Plato accurately conveys the essence of Socrates' epistemic theories.
9wzYQbTYsAIc 7y ago
I’m guessing but based on my studies of philosophy, Socrates was more interested in the technique of asking questions than of reading nonverbal communication. In other words, he’d probably have no problems in learning from a blind person and blind people would still benefit from Socratic dialog ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method )

wahern 7y ago

When Socrates and other ancient philosophers criticize writing, it's not because of the lack of in-person, non-verbal signals--at least, not directly. It's because they had peculiar beliefs about the origin and nature of knowledge. As alluded to in the post, in their epistemologies memory isn't just a way to recall facts, but often considered the very seat of knowledge and even reality itself. Plato takes this to an extreme with his Platonic forms, which exist and are slowly revealed as memories. Suffice it to say the contention of the anti-writing crowd was that writing as a medium conflicted with the nature and/or embodiment of knowledge. This conflation of knowledge and memory persisted up to at least Augustine. Note that not all these philosophers were anti-writing, just that you can't understand the debate without understanding the premises. Would Socrates be cool with electronic Socratic dialogue? I know enough to know that I don't know enough to be able to say one way or another. As far as I understand, Plato had different theories about knowledge and memory than Socrates, though both (in keeping with the era) emphasized their interrelationship. So we should be skeptical that Plato accurately conveys the essence of Socrates' epistemic theories.

9wzYQbTYsAIc 7y ago

I’m guessing but based on my studies of philosophy, Socrates was more interested in the technique of asking questions than of reading nonverbal communication. In other words, he’d probably have no problems in learning from a blind person and blind people would still benefit from Socratic dialog ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method )