There is no neat divide between ones views of philosophy and of life.
They are overlapping and kindred views. It is virtually impossible in many instances to know what we believe in daily life until we engage oth- ers in dialogue. Likewise, to discover our philosophi- cal views, we must engage with ourselves, with the lives we already lead. Our views form, change, evolve, as we participate in this dialogue. It is the only way truly to discover what philosophical colors we sail under. Everyone at some point preaches to himself and others what he does not yet practice; everyone acts in or on the world in ways that are in some way contradictory or inconsistent with the views he or she confesses or professes to hold. For instance, the Dan- ish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, the influential founder of existentialism, put Socratic principles to use in writing his dissertation on the concept of irony in Socrates, often using pseudonyms so he could argue his own positions with himself. In addition, the sixteenth-century essayist Michel de Montaigne, who was called “the French Socrates” and was known as the father of skepticism in modern Europe, would
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From The Euthyphro PLATO
Plato, The Euthyphro, translated by Benjamin Jowett.
16 Á PART 1: FUNDAMENTALS
Euthyphro. To be sure.
Socrates. But what differences are there which can- not be thus decided, and which therefore make us angry and set us at enmity with one another? I dare say the answer does not occur to you at the moment, and therefore I will suggest that these enmities arise when the matters of difference are the just and unjust, good and evil, honourable and dishon- ourable. Are not these the points about which men differ, and about which when we are unable satisfac- torily to decide our differences, you and I and all of us quarrel, when we do quarrel?
Euthyphro. Yes, Socrates, the nature of the differ- ences about which we quarrel is such as you describe.