this weekend i found myself just hanging out alot in my bedroom (mostly because its the only room in my house with air conditioning to fight off the 95 degree swelter). as i was chillin on the bed i was scanning the bookshelves to see if there was something that would hold my attention for a while while i cooled down. i came across this ragged old book. why do i have this book? well, let me tell you: i stole it from my brother. (this is going to be awkward if he were to ever read this. oops, i guess i should have thought that one through...) he was always really into philosophy and stuff, but growing up i never understood why, so i decided to find out. i took the book when i was in junior high or high school. i paged through it, but was quickly confused and tossed it aside. for some reason i held on to it, and all these years later i decided to pick it up and give it a look through.i have studied socrates before, in college and on my own, but i didnt take that step of actually reading his stuff. im aware of his approach to logic and understanding, so that made the read even more interesting. i read the first section, a discussion with euthrypho, and began reading his apology before the court. it was really interesting to read through an example of his method in use. he would take every assumption that the speaker would have and then ask little questions that the other guy would agree to. each question a little baby step. he would add up those baby steps and by the end he would prove that what you are agreeing to now is in direct oppositon to your original claim. dang, that must have pissed of the people he would talk to, huh?
my brother was always really good at this. and yes, i did piss me off all the time.
