Only Socrates knew, after a lifetime of unceasing labor, that he was ignorant. Now ever high-school student knows that. How did it become so easy? What accounts for our amazing progress?
— The Closing of the American Mind
Only Socrates knew, after a lifetime of unceasing labor, that he was ignorant. Now ever high-school student knows that. How did it become so easy? What accounts for our amazing progress?
— The Closing of the American Mind
I’m sure Alan Bloom has his own answer, but I’ll hazard a guess: Socrates did not face pop quizes, tests, or report cards four to six times a year.
Bloom’s answer is summed up in the Great Books series: read the classics, and deeply.
And how do you know that Socrates didn’t face pop quizzes? As far as a report card goes, he faced the ultimate report card: hemlock. I think that’s a little more emotionally damaging than getting an “F”. :)
Yeah, but be fair; he faced hemlock after a lifetime of unceasing labor, not at age 6 because he flunked the letter “U.”