The Individual I Admire Most
The individual I admire most is Socrates, who is a man of ancient Greek as well as our times. As one of the three most influential philosophers, Socrates, also the greatest thinker and educator in ancient time, is regarded as the true father of western thought. He did not leave any writing, but his idea which can only be known through his student Plato’s dialogue still has a profound influence.
Firstly, I would like to give a brief introduction about Socrates’ life. He was born as the son of a mason and a midwife. In a city that made a cult of physical beauty, with a pot-belly, a weird walk, protruding eyes, and thick lips, he was unquestionably ugly. But this short, ordinary man was full of great thoughts. He almost taught everywhere all his life. When he was seventy years old, Socrates was put on trial on the charge of “injuring the city” by not acknowledging its God and corrupting the young and died of poison.
Although Socrates lived far long from us, his method and thoughts still influent deeply. All of his contributions, the dialectical method and his emphasizing on knowing ourselves and self-development are the two things that I appreciate most.
The dialectical method, or Socrates’ method is also known as the method of argument. When his students asked him questions, Socrates would not give them answers directly but asked them back in another way. He believed that there was an inherent order in language, so in the process of questioning and answering, students were guided to found the answer by themselves. Just like a midwife, who can not give the birth to a baby instead of the pregnant women but can only help them, Socrates led his students to find out the truth by asking instead of speaking out his thoughts directly.
In my opinion, this method is one of the greatest invention in human history. It is very common that students are seen reciting what the teachers has written down on the blackboard. I still remember that I as well as all the other students just were busying remembering what the teachers said and managing to pass the exams rather than thinking that how did those so-called truth comes from, even whether it is right or not. My brain is already becoming numb. But compared with the teaching method now in primary and senior high schools in China, Socrates’ method really makes more positive contributions on both of students and education. Being encouraged to questioning rather than appeal to authority, being appreciated to search truth on own rather than being stuffed with teachers’ knowledge, students will be more creative and active, and the educational process is enlightening rather than stuffing. I hope that this kind of teaching method could be used wildly in the future.
Additionally, Socrates emphasized on knowing ourselves clearly and then improving ourselves, which inspired me a lot. Socrates devoted himself to searching the truth. Instead of observing elements in nature, which are unsteady and always change in his point of view, he pursuing the truth hidden inside by studying the human being itself. What should we know about ourselves? That is the ignorance. “I only know that I know nothing”. That one of the best known saying of Socrates. That is really a great sentence. Even our wisest philosopher are ignore, what about us? There are some arrogant people who think that they are wise because they know everything. But what I want to say is that the more we think we know, the more ignorant we are. We can never understand everything in the world exactly. It is upset to feel as a fool to the world. But fortunately, only realizing our ignorance can we have a chance to learn more knowledge and become not so ignorant. In my perspective, study is a magnificent project actually. We always get some problems that we never come across. The best way to solve the problem is not to skipping it but to study that kind of issue which we may not hear of. So in this way, study should be undertaken in every hours even every minute. We really spend big efforts to be not ignorant, but also, it is really a good opportunity to develop ourselves.
For some people, the thoughts of Socrates may be regarded out of fashion. But for me, the wise teaching method—the method of argument and the great theory—knowing ourselves, which all show the modesty and the real wisdom of Socrates, make me think a lot and will have a big effect on me in the future.
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