The individual matters

During the time of Socrates in Athens important decisions were decided by a show of hands. For the city, the opinion of the majority was equated with truth and I believe that the current, poll driven political environment is developing in much the same way.

Some might say that this is the way democracy works but it is not. Truth is never determined by consensus. In a representative democracy the individual matters. Totalitarianism depends on the absence of individual moral courage because as Marilynne Robinson states: “In a democracy, abdications of conscience are never trivial. They demoralise politics, debilitate candour, and disrupt thought.”

Socrates defined a correct belief held without understanding the why behind it as a true opinion, and he contrasted it unfavourably with knowledge which he defined as not only knowing why something was true, but also why its alternatives were false.

It was why the powers that be demanded his death.

For those of us who believe in an absolute truth the future poses a challenge. We owe it to ourselves and others to embrace the self examined life.