Quotes from Ronald Gross

Socrates' demonstration of the defect in the officers' concept of courage has some important implications. A commander who believed that ordering a retreat was cowardly would be severely constrained in his options; one who had a broader definition would have more tactical choices.

Our words channel our thoughts. Our concepts drive our thinking. Our ideas shape our actions.

Socrates' cave represents the world of our "received beliefs." Each of us harbors a myriad of ideas, attitudes, and opinions that have been "programmed" into us by our upbringing, schooling, culture, and social and media environment. The "chains" that bind us to these ideas are our understandable desire to please others, to be accepted, and to save ourselves the effort of thinking things through ourselves.

Such acceptance is not entirely bad. In most cases, these ideas, opinions, and attitudes are quite serviceable. We should not have to think through everything ourselves. We do not need to challenge everything. But we do need to know how to conduct such a self-examination of our beliefs when it is required. Otherwise, we will live our lives as unwitting intellectual puppets.

3. Challenge your mind to make significant judgments. To Socrates, the capacity to judge for ourselves was the expression of our human dignity. No oracle, no law, no assumed belief, no unanimously held opinion was exempt from our examination of its validity.

To achieve self-mastery and insight requires a lifelong regimen of asking questions, thinking things through, liberating your mind, benefiting from the perspectives of other people, and caring for your soul.

SOCRATES: I appreciate that, Agathon, and of course I have prepared well for our dialogue. These discussions are my main way of becoming the best Socrates I can be. But if I just wanted to speak my own thoughts out loud, I could talk to a mirror, without the bother of leaving my house. I've come here because I'll only be sure I've done my best thinking, when I hear others, and submit to the exhilarating discipline of the dialogue. All of us are smarter than any of us.

In some of these cases, I found that I could not defend my beliefs adequately and needed to change my opinion. In others, I was able to reaffirm my convictions with real confidence. The point is that reexamining these basic beliefs was painful, sometimes agonizingly so. It was not a purely intellectual effort, but involved some of my deepest emotions. It challenged my sense of myself, since I had closely identified some of these beliefs with who I was and what I stood for.

When a group of friends have enjoyed fine conversation together, you will find that uddenly omething extraordinary happen . A they are peaking, it' a if a park ignite , pa ing from one peaker to another, and a it travel , it gather trength, building into a warm and illuminating flame of mutual under tanding which none of them could have achieved alone. SOCRATES, IN PLATO'S "CRITIAS

Critical thinking is not merely a negative activity. Its ultimate purpose is to cut through the crap and develop sound opinions that impel intelligent, effective action.

Socrates immersed himself in the cutting-edge intellectual work of his day, then transcended it. He took advantage of the fact that the most exciting thinkers in the Western world were drawn to Athens. He sought them out, learned what they had to teach, then challenged what he had learned to enhance his own understanding.

Socrates always insisted that any of us could do what he did if we were willing to give full expression to our innate capacity to ask questions, learn from everyone, challenge our own beliefs, and stand up for what is right.

Questions can excite, disturb, discipline, or comfort, but they always stimulate inquiry.

Effective leaders are skilled at asking carefully worded questions, guiding people to greater understanding of issues and problems until appropriate solutions become obvious. By guiding people to think things through for themselves, the (Socratic) leader encourages shared pride and ownership of the solutions generated.

The goal of formal education has always been to produce people who could continue to learn on their own.