--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...Plato conceived of philosophy as…" description: "\"“...Plato conceived of philosophy as necessarily gregarious rather than solitary. The exposure of presumptions is best done in company, the more argume..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59d/rebecca-goldstein-4026_argumentative_plato-conceived-of-philosophy-as-necessa_900529.jpg" --- # ...Plato conceived of philosophy as necessarily gregarious… ![“...Plato conceived of philosophy as necessarily gregarious rather than solitary. The exposure of presumptions is best done in company, the more argumentative the better. This is why discussion around the table is so essential. This is why philosophy must be argumentative. It proceeds by way of…” quote by Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59d/rebecca-goldstein-4026_argumentative_plato-conceived-of-philosophy-as-necessa_900529.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59d/rebecca-goldstein-4026_argumentative_plato-conceived-of-philosophy-as-necessa_900529.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59d/rebecca-goldstein-4026_argumentative_plato-conceived-of-philosophy-as-necessa_900529.jpg) > ““...Plato conceived of philosophy as necessarily gregarious rather than solitary. The exposure of presumptions is best done in company, the more argumentative the better. This is why discussion around the table is so essential. This is why philosophy must be argumentative. It proceeds by way of arguments, and the arguments are argued over. Everything is aired in the bracing dialectic wind stirred by many clashing viewpoints. Only in this way can intuitions that have their source in societal or personal idiosyncrasies be exposed and questioned. ... There can be nothing like "Well, that's what I was brought up to believe," or "I just feel that it's right," or "I am privy to an authoritative voice whispering in my ear," or "I'm demonstrably smarter than all of you, so just accept that I know better here." The discussion around the seminar table countenances only the sorts of arguments and considerations that can, in principle, make a claim on everyone who signs on to the project of reason: appealing to, evaluating, and being persuaded by reasons. (pp. 38-39)”” [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Philosophy thrives on collaborative argument; exposing assumptions requires diverse viewpoints and dialectic exchange. **In simple terms:** Discussion reveals hidden biases and strengthens ideas. Key Takeaway Seek dialogue, not echo chambers. Themes philosophy dialogue critical thinking community Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - academic seminars - team meetings - public debates - online forums Key Concepts dialectic skepticism reasoning Questions to Reflect On - How can you foster respectful disagreement? - What biases surface in group discussions? A Different Perspective May become hostile if participants prioritize winning over truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Argued](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argued/) [Argumentative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argumentative-10519/) [Argumentative Better](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argumentative-better-1236970/) [Arguments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arguments/) [Arguments Argued](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arguments-argued-1236969/) [Around The Table](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/around-the-table/) [Discussion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discussion/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Philosophy Argumentative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-argumentative-1236968/) [Reasons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reasons/) ## Related quotes > [I can be quite argumentative and stubborn if I get a bee in my bonnet. 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There's not a lot of time to take things in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/parker-posey/it-s-overshadowed-the-art-we-re-in-a-really-argumentative-black-and/) [Parker Posey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/parker-posey/) > [I'm never argumentative for the sake of being argumentative, I don't think. 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What I was trying to point out was that you can't understand how we learn unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/i-ve-never-argued-that-humans-are-massively-hot-wired-what-i-was/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) ## More by Rebecca Goldstein > [Youth is not an essential, but rather an accidental property. Nobody is in essence young. One either ceases to be or ceases to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/youth-is-not-an-essential-but-rather-an-accidental-property-nobody-is/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Plato dramatically puts the detachment of the philosopher from his time this way: to philosophize is to prepare to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/plato-dramatically-puts-the-detachment-of-the-philosopher-from-his/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [When you ask why did some particular question occur to a scientist or philosopher for the first time, or why did this particular approach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/when-you-ask-why-did-some-particular-question-occur-to-a-scientist-or/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [“Freedom for me is a pain in the Buridan's ass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/freedom-for-me-is-a-pain-in-the-buridan-s-ass/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Those who share my heroes are, in the deepest sense, of my own kind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/those-who-share-my-heroes-are-in-the-deepest-sense-of-my-own-kind/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [“one evangelical scientist who had felt his doubts falling away from him when he was hiking in the mountains and came upon a frozen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/one-evangelical-scientist-who-had-felt-his-doubts-falling-away-from/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Because of the failure of religion to offer satisfying answers to an increasing number of people, it's time for philosophy to address forcefully these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/because-of-the-failure-of-religion-to-offer-satisfying-answers-to-an/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [If we look at our attitudes consistently and work out the logical implications we're on the road to moral progress, moral understanding.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/if-we-look-at-our-attitudes-consistently-and-work-out-the-logical/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [We may not need God to tell us where the world came from, but we need God to be able to live moral lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/we-may-not-need-god-to-tell-us-where-the-world-came-from-but-we-need/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [In order to refute a conclusion, you have to put forth the best possible argument for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/in-order-to-refute-a-conclusion-you-have-to-put-forth-the-best/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Philosophical progress changes what we take to be "intuitively" obvious, and this change covers up the tracks of the laborious arguments that preceded the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/philosophical-progress-changes-what-we-take-to-be-intuitively-obvious/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [What one tries to force into a child against its own nature will never come to good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/what-one-tries-to-force-into-a-child-against-its-own-nature-will/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [Thinking is the soul speaking to itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/thinking-is-the-soul-speaking-to-itself/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [What is remarkable about the Greeks - even pre-philosophically - is that despite the salience of religious rituals in their lives, when it came…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/what-is-remarkable-about-the-greeks-even-pre-philosophically-is-that/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [In fact, it’s the very impersonality of impersonal knowledge that renders such knowledge the most ethically potent of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/in-fact-it-s-the-very-impersonality-of-impersonal-knowledge-that/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) [Explore all 116 Rebecca Goldstein quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) ## More Argued quotes > [I've never argued that humans are massively hot-wired. What I was trying to point out was that you can't understand how we learn unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/i-ve-never-argued-that-humans-are-massively-hot-wired-what-i-was/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“I argued against the view that the only obligation we have to strangers is to avoid harming them; but even if we were to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-singer/i-argued-against-the-view-that-the-only-obligation-we-have-to/) [Peter Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-singer/) > [God, Bones, you must have argued yourself blue in the face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeaniene-frost/god-bones-you-must-have-argued-yourself-blue-in-the-face/) [Jeaniene Frost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeaniene-frost/) > [Since I came to the World Bank in 2007, I have argued that we must 'modernize multilateralism.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-zoellick/since-i-came-to-the-world-bank-in-2007-i-have-argued-that-we-must/) [Robert Zoellick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-zoellick/) > [Anne is very forgiving. She doesn't care about money, being rich, or clothes. We never argued about finances.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-stiller/anne-is-very-forgiving-she-doesn-t-care-about-money-being-rich-or/) [Jerry Stiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-stiller/) > [“argued for an hour on the telephone. now looking at pictures of carbs”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-boyle/argued-for-an-hour-on-the-telephone-now-looking-at-pictures-of-carbs/) [Megan Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-boyle/) > [I have argued flying saucers with lots of people. I was interested in possible. They do not appreciate that the problem is not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/i-have-argued-flying-saucers-with-lots-of-people-i-was-interested-in/) [Richard P. Feynman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-p-feynman/) > [Have you ever argued with your boyfriend/girlfriend over little things? It starts off over a little thing & then it turns into this big…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emilio-vasquez/have-you-ever-argued-with-your-boyfriend-girlfriend-over-little/) [Emilio Vasquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emilio-vasquez/) > [The outstanding truths of life, the great and unquestioned phenomena of society, are not to be argued away as myths and vagaries when they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-n-cardozo/the-outstanding-truths-of-life-the-great-and-unquestioned-phenomena/) [Benjamin N. Cardozo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-n-cardozo/) > [I'm always asked if the songs that I write are therapeutic, and my answer is a quick no. 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It proceeds by way of arguments, and the arguments are argued over. Everything is aired in the bracing dialectic wind stirred by many clashing viewpoints. Only in this way can intuitions that have their source in societal or personal idiosyncrasies be exposed and questioned. ... There can be nothing like \"Well, that's what I was brought up to believe,\" or \"I just feel that it's right,\" or \"I am privy to an authoritative voice whispering in my ear,\" or \"I'm demonstrably smarter than all of you, so just accept that I know better here.\" The discussion around the seminar table countenances only the sorts of arguments and considerations that can, in principle, make a claim on everyone who signs on to the project of reason: appealing to, evaluating, and being persuaded by reasons. 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