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Was fairly amused when reading the wiki definition of 'irony' (a word that always perplexes me as to its correct application) and came across this little description of a method of argumentation employed by Socrates:
Socratic irony
"The dissimulation of ignorance practised by Socrates as a means of confuting an adversary" (OED, under irony). Socrates would pretend to be ignorant of the topic under discussion, in order to draw out the inherent nonsense in the arguments of his interlocutors. Chambers dictionary has: "a means by which a questioner pretends to know less than a respondent, when actually he knows more."
Zoe Williams of The Guardian wrote: "The technique [of Socratic irony], demonstrated in the Platonic dialogues, was to pretend ignorance and, more sneakily, to feign credence in your opponent's power of thought, in order to tie him in knots."
A fairly amusing thought, I would venture:
![[image loading]](http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k110/HamerD/socrates.png)
 
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United States24753 Posts
No that's not trolling really... he wasn't doing it to upset the other person (from what we can tell)... he was doing it as a method for getting his point across.
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On May 12 2010 04:07 micronesia wrote:
No that's not trolling really... he wasn't doing it to upset the other person (from what we can tell)... he was doing it as a method for getting his point across.
Trolls still have points that they want to get across.
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United States24753 Posts
On May 12 2010 04:10 Saturnize wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 04:07 micronesia wrote:
No that's not trolling really... he wasn't doing it to upset the other person (from what we can tell)... he was doing it as a method for getting his point across. Trolls still have points that they want to get across.
No they don't.
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On May 12 2010 04:11 micronesia wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 04:10 Saturnize wrote:On May 12 2010 04:07 micronesia wrote:
No that's not trolling really... he wasn't doing it to upset the other person (from what we can tell)... he was doing it as a method for getting his point across. Trolls still have points that they want to get across. No they don't.
Wrong. They are just often labeled as trolls by forum dummies, because it's easier for dummies to label someone a troll than to find a valid counter-argument.
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Socrates --------> ENLIGHTENMENT! PROGRESS! LOGIC!
--- That momentary lull of false ignorance ---
Troll --------> lolyousuck. RAGE! ANGER! WTF?!
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United States24753 Posts
On May 12 2010 04:12 Sadistx wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 04:11 micronesia wrote:On May 12 2010 04:10 Saturnize wrote:On May 12 2010 04:07 micronesia wrote:
No that's not trolling really... he wasn't doing it to upset the other person (from what we can tell)... he was doing it as a method for getting his point across. Trolls still have points that they want to get across. No they don't. Wrong. They are just often labeled as trolls by forum dummies, because it's easier for dummies to label someone a troll than to find a valid counter-argument.
Wait... you think I define troll as the kind of people who forum dummies think are trolling when they really aren't? Rethink what you just said lol
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I just thought it was funny to imagine Socrates saying he had a big pen0r tbh...
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United States24753 Posts
On May 12 2010 04:17 sc4k wrote:
I just thought it was funny to imagine Socrates saying he had a big pen0r tbh...
Yeah I completely agree with you that this is a pretty interesting/funny finding. I'm also going to try it out sometime :3
edit: I think it's pretty difficult to use this method effectively but I could be wrong.
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Plato was a douchebag. By the transitive property, so was Socrates. Therefore, yes, Socrates was a troll.
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omg i never realized how hard Plato was trolling in "The Republic"
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
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On May 12 2010 04:12 Sadistx wrote:Show nested quote +On May 12 2010 04:11 micronesia wrote:On May 12 2010 04:10 Saturnize wrote:On May 12 2010 04:07 micronesia wrote:
No that's not trolling really... he wasn't doing it to upset the other person (from what we can tell)... he was doing it as a method for getting his point across. Trolls still have points that they want to get across. No they don't. Wrong. They are just often labeled as trolls by forum dummies, because it's easier for dummies to label someone a troll than to find a valid counter-argument.
I see what you did there.
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On May 12 2010 04:32 ProoM wrote:
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
The fuck?
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8751 Posts
Yeah I think he may have been the original troll. He would talk in such a way to make people look idiotic and become annoyed. When he did this to his friends their response was sort of like "damn it Socrates, just tell me what you think already" but in a respectful way. When he did it to others, well, the city ended up having him killed.
The things we read of Socrates appear more constructive than perhaps they actually were because Plato wrote the dialogues down as a way to teach philosophy. Socrates probably was really very annoying and disruptive. Of all the possible ways to present his philosophy, he definitely chose the trolliest.
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Socrates proved what ultimately happens to trolls.
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On May 12 2010 04:47 Liquid`NonY wrote:
Yeah I think he may have been the original troll. He would talk in such a way to make people look idiotic and become annoyed. When he did this to his friends their response was sort of like "damn it Socrates, just tell me what you think already" but in a respectful way. When he did it to others, well, the city ended up having him killed.
The things we read of Socrates appear more constructive than perhaps they actually were because Plato wrote the dialogues down as a way to teach philosophy. Socrates probably was really very annoying and disruptive. Of all the possible ways to present his philosophy, he definitely chose the trolliest.
The original trolls (circa 1996) probably had a method similar to what Socrates actually did, but trolls these days there posts usually consist of the following:
Omg wtf hi guys roflcopter, I was just wondering if there was any discussions about Marauders going on here, because I search and not find, okie, thanx.
But I can recall back in the days of SC1 just launching that some people who may be called trolls now, actually have a good point to get across.
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EPT
