What Is Called Thinking?

What Is Called Thinking?

What is the Role of the Philosopher in Society?

On Hannah Arendt's Socrates

Zohar Atkins's avatar
Zohar Atkins
Apr 14, 2021
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Hannah Arendt writes of Socrates:

“The role of the philosopher is not to rule the city but to be its gadfly, not to tell philosophical truths, but to make citizens more truthful.”

In her rendering, Socrates is a kind of therapeutic figure, helping people articulate their worldviews, but not trying to correct or change them. Socrates wants people to know…

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