Dialogue with Socrates and a person [interesting read]

So this one isn't written by me, but by my brother. Thought I would show it to you guys, he would love to hear your feedback.
He had to write up a conversation with themselves and Socrates, the philosopher, for Humanity class.

Honesty: A temporality


I believe we should bring our lengthy conversation of justice to an end. Wouldn’t you agree with me Jace?

We haven’t really reached a conclusion though.

True, in that case we shall put it on hold for now as my mind is now occupied with a different and maybe even more discuss-worthy topic.

After conversing with yon on Justice, I find that hard to believe, but please do continue.

Have you ever told a lie in your life? Of course you have, who hasn’t? Everyone has had a point in their life where they were either forced to lie or did it out of their own personal choice. Although, we won’t begin to talk about the importance of the motive they had, but rather my dear friend Jace, what intrigues me is the misconception everyone has developed with the term honesty, and the contradictions that follow.

Misconception? Could you please elaborate?

Very well. Would you consider yourself an honest person?

Yes, indeed I would.

Do you remember when you last lied?

No, I cannot say I do.

That statement right there proves my very point.

I do not follow.

I asked you whether or not you remembered when you last lied? Upon hearing the statement your mind began to retrace all the moments in which you’ve ever lied, but was unable to pinpoint the most recent one. Although you were able to recall several moments in which you had been dishonest, you preferred to answer my question with a simple ‘no’ rather than an explanation of how you can’t cite the most recent, but you can remember certain moments in time where you have lied. You could’ve told me the last instance of you lieing that came to you your head, as it in reality would be considered when you ‘last lied’, but you chose to go with a simple no. Why is that?

Well, I’m not sure to be honest.

Mind your words Jace, we’re here to discuss honesty, not irony.

And I’m not here to be humored, but rather enlightened.

Fair enough, let me clarify my thought process. The reason you chose to answer my question with a static no was because, an answer like that doesn’t give me much information on how honest of a person you are. There are various interpretations to such an answer. I could for one, believe that you’re an incredibly honest person, which is why you have trouble recalling a time in which you lied, as such a time doesn’t exist. On the other hand, you could be an incredibly dishonest person, whose lied so much throughout their life that they have trouble pin-pointing the most recent lie they’ve told. Would you agree?

Yes so far it seems logical enough.

I’m not finished. Another purpose behind you not choosing to tell me, that you do in fact remember your previous lies, just not the most recent, is to preserve an image of yourself in my head as someone who seems honest. Although that back-fired, as I’m positive you have lied in your lifetime, and your dishonesty behind your reply to my question doesn’t help your case. That right there is where we see a misconception. Your personal misconception of yourself associated with the term ‘honest’. You considered yourself an honest person, yet answered me with partial dishonesty, although not necessarily a lie, but still far from the truth. Do you still consider yourself an honest person Jace?

Well, yes I do. See, if I had answered your question by telling you the most recent lie I could recall, it could be considered dishonest if later on I recalled a more recent lie?

Not quite, since in that specific moment in time, you’re being honest by telling me the most recent instance of lieing. Later on, when you remember an earlier moment, whether or not you choose to inform me would characterize you as honest or dishonest.

So if I follow correctly, telling you about my most recent moment of dishonesty, whenever I remember it, would make me an honest person?

Do you even think before you speak? Listen to yourself Jace! How can one be honest when they have lied in their past? The question itself is asking you if you’ve been dishonest, and you’re proposing that answering yes would make you honest. Impossible, the only thing you’ll gain by answering with ‘yes’ to my question is temporary honesty.

I refuse to believe that, there is such a thing as an honest man.

Yes indeed there is Jace, but how would you ever be able to tell? Would you take his word? Or would you take the word of those he’s interacted with? And what caused those he interacted with to believe he’s honest? His actions, his word or the word of others? The chain ends when you have no one to ask but the man himself, and he’ll always answer yes. You’ll never be able to decipher whether or not in that moment in time he’s being honest or not, which is why the only form of honesty is temporary. Just like you, me and everyone else in this world, honesty is a temporality which, as a misconception is perceived as permanent, eventually resulting in contradictions my friend. Wouldn’t you agree?

What was it that you said about Justice?

 

bump where dem readers at

 

Umm, it's alright. I would label who is who (while not entirely hard to figure out, would still be easier on eyes if re-reading certain segments.)

I get the dialogue and it's alright, but why did he choose to write such a dialogue with Socrates? It's much more likely a dialogue with Socrates would be much more question orientated from Socrates perspective (aka the Socratic method) getting down to the core of some problem/idea/whatever (ex: what is Justice?) Basically, I don't see how the conversation arises with Socrates with what I actually know about him.

 

I was expecting something at least amusing it's true and all but pointless to read ._.

 

True, this has nothing to do with Socrates.

Still an enjoyable read