Most people who read Plato's Republic as adults, or his other shorter dialogues featuring Socrates, usually get caught up in the discussions and never notice a very strange thing. The master pattern is something like this: Someone brings up a topic, and Socrates begins asking questions. He quickly finds that at least one person present seems to think he knows all about the topic, or at least has a high degree of certainty about some central idea or claim. Our philosopher begins to dismantle that certainty. And the dialogue tends to end with no more accurate truth to replace the counterfeit insight that was originally so confidently presented as the truth. Then Socrates ambles off.
Careful readers eventually say, "Wait. Why no resolution? Why does Socrates leave things unresolved? Is he trying to show us that philosophy unsettles us but never gives us answers?" No. Not at all.
On reflection, it looks to me like what most motivated Socrates was not actually clarifying common concepts or evaluating popular claims to arrive at ultimate truth, but rather inducing a measure of intellectual humility into others as a way of sparking a courageous curiosity about life. Then, great things could happen. We're too tied to the status quo, too pressured by peers, too often caught in group think, too chained to the assumptions of our day, or industry, or profession, or party. We need to be bold thinkers, all of us, unafraid to try ideas, to test assumptions, and to think in new and creative ways. That's when we can make our greatest contributions.
