About

TheYoungSocrates tries to challenge accepted beliefs through using arguments and reason. Its aim is to make you think about what what you consider to be right, wrong, true or false.

Why TheYoungSocrates?
People hear many things and people believe many things. But why do people believe things? Why do you believe things? That’s after all where it’s all about: why do you believe what you believe? Do you have (good) arguments for what you believe, or do you believe something because everyone else happens to believe it?

It is the latter ‘dogmatic’ reasoning that is questioned in the articles on this blog. I try to do this by writing articles about topics (often philosophical in nature) that – I think – cannot be found on the internet. Some of the positions I will take might appear shocking or counter-intuitive. Remember that my goal is always to make you aware of what you believe and why you believe it, and if – for achieving this goal – it is required to take unusual or unconventional positions, then I’m glad to do so. I do not claim that my beliefs are true or right in any sense. All I can say is that these are my beliefs, the rightness or truthfulness of which are on the same level as your or anyone else’s beliefs.

Why the name “TheYoungSocrates”?
I chose the name “TheYoungSocrates” as a tribute to Socrates, and in particular to the following claim of his: “I know only one thing, and that is that I know nothing”. I find this claim so beautiful and so true that I hope many people, including myself, will live their lives according to it. If every one of us would come to realize that we in fact don’t know anything – in which ‘knowing’ is different from ‘believing’ – we could engage in a healthy discussion leading up to, what might be, a more reasonable – or at least a more complete – set of beliefs for each one of us.

Another reason for choosing to the name is because of the Socratic method which I find a powerful method for getting down to the core of (philosophical) issues. It resembles an attitude of total receptiveness to the arguments of others, and it is this attitude that I consider to be worthwhile promoting.

Lastly: the name of this blog should be interpreted with a huge grain of salt: of course I am not – or claim to be – the new, younger version of Socrates. But I can at least give it a try, right ;)?

I hope that we can – collectively – come to what might be a more reasonable perspective on the world.

Sincerely,

TheYoungSocrates

Note: the articles on this blog are constantly being revised in order to improve their quality. Therefore it might occur that when you view – what you believed to be – the same article at a latter point in time, the content of it might have changed.