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> the author is right that conflict is also productive Could you explain why? > The actual Greek meaning of the word idiot is 'private person'. Someone who ha
by _qulr 6y ago
> the author is right that conflict is also productive
Could you explain why?
> The actual Greek meaning of the word idiot is 'private person'. Someone who had withdrawn from the life in the polis, the political community.
The Greeks put Socrates to death, so call me skeptical.
- SuoDuanDao 6y agoRegarding conflict, I think it's certainly true that some ideas are so poorly understood that it can be useful to have someone else approach the same idea from a different perspective, so as to 'pin it down' as it were. Martin's 'The Opposable Mind' is a great discussion of this dynamic, the book describes a single person changing their mind on a topic deliberately so as to 'grasp' it but a similar dynamic can work with two people. Of course, disagreement doesn't necessarily mean conflict if the rules of civil discussion are agreed upon. I wish we had a way to filter our bubbles by what we find acceptable behaviour when disagreeing as opposed to what we agree with.
- thazework 6y agoThis is a common misconception, idiote was often used interchangeably with citizen and should be understood as a citizen operating in his capacity as a citizen (and not say in a formal poltical or emissary function) but by no means one who wishes to disengage from the polis. As for Socrates, as he is at pains to emphasize in the Apology, he was no 'idiote'.