Dear Socrates

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Having traveled from the turn of the Fourth Century B.C. to the turn of the Twenty-First Century A.D., Socrates has eagerly signed on as a Philosophy Now columnist so that he may continue to carry out his divinely-inspired dialogic mission.

Dear Socrates,

You have spoken about the importance of questioning other people, and of their questioning you, for the purpose of understanding what each other, and even oneself, is saying. I know that you have infinite patience for this activity, and in fact enjoy it more than any other. The same cannot be said of most of your interlocutors, whose impatience turns to umbrage, anger, frustration, calumnies and prosecuting you in law courts. But what I want to know is why there is so much misunderstanding in the first place. Let’s start with a single language community.

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