Sometimes I dream of being a Socrates. To live out the ideal of dialogue as the prime tool for intellectual exploration via collaborative intelligence. Socrates did not write; instead, he was a master of dialogue. People came to him becoming totally disarmed after realizing that they did not know what they thought they knew. Socrates himself did not claim knowledge; only divine wisdom - the knowledge of knowing that he did not know. His dialogues may have not netted definitive answers, but they did yield death of thought and exploration into a subject. Even more, Socrates demonstrated real thinking on his part, and demanded the same from everyone else. So, to be in a "Socratic dialogue" was (and is) one of the most exciting learning experiences anyone can undertake. It does not always work, but when it does it is memorable.
His work was to get beyond mere opinion to truth. Rarely did he say "this is it".
Rather, the process itself was enough to satisfy the love-urge for wisdom.
Asking question.
Digging into doubts at every turn. Until everyone's minds are on fire.
Alive with desire to understand.
This was Socratic dialogue -- an act of intellectual midwifery.
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