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 are the great champion of reason, so I hope you can help me with my puzzle. I try to emulate you by living a life of rationality – thinking things through (including in discussion), reaching logical conclusions, then acting on them with conviction. Yet so often my conclusions turn out to be mistaken, my actions wrong. How can this be?

Bien à vous,
Blaise

Cher Blaise,

Believe me, I know what you are talking about. Let me say right away that I have never meant to defend reason as infallible.

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