Philosophical Humility and Persuasion. Now, I would like to discuss Xxxxxxxx’ insights into the notion of persuasion and its role in philosophical argument. For Xxxxxxxx, we should primarily care for persuading ourselves and look for the truth. To explain the role of persuading oneself, Xxxxxxxx discusses the idea of desiring argumentative victory: [T7] It will be much better to assume that we are not sound yet, but must make a manly effort to be sound. You and the others should do this for the sake of your whole life to come, but I for the sake of my death considered in its own right, because concerning that very thing I’m now in danger of desiring not wisdom but victory, like those who are utterly uneducated. For when they are at odds about something, they also do not care about the facts of the matter they are arguing about, but strive to make what they themselves have proposed seem true to those who are present.129 Xxxxxxxx reflects on the fact that he is going to die shortly and therefore tries to persuade himself that the soul is immortal. Xxxxxxxx states that he is in danger of becoming a man who desires not wisdom but victory, and who does not care about 128 Long (2013, 72-73) appropriately defines them as “critical allies”. 129 Phd. 90e3-91a6 ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον ὅτι ἡμεῖς οὔπω ὑγιῶς ἔχομεν, ἀλλὰ ἀνδριστέον καὶ προθυμητέον ὑγιῶς ἔχειν, σοὶ μὲν οὖν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τοῦ ἔπειτα βίου παντὸς ἕνεκα, ἐμοὶ δὲ αὐτοῦ ἕνεκα τοῦ θανάτου, ὡς κινδυνεύω ἔγωγε ἐν τῷ παρόντι περὶ αὐτοῦ τούτου οὐ φιλοσόφως ἔχειν ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ οἱ πάνυ ἀπαίδευτοι φιλονίκως. καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ὅταν περί του ἀμφισβητῶσιν, ὅπῃ μὲν ἔχει περὶ ὧν ἂν ὁ λόγος ᾖ οὐ φροντίζουσιν, ὅπως δὲ ἃ αὐτοὶ ἔθεντο ταῦτα δόξει τοῖς παροῦσιν, τοῦτο προθυμοῦνται. the facts about the immortality of souls. In fact, Xxxxxxxx believes that he is not dealing with the subject like those who desire victory: [T8] I think that now I will differ from them only to this extent: I won’t strive to make what I say seem true to those who are present, except as byproduct, but instead to make it seem so as much as possible to myself.130 T8 suggests that there is a fundamental difference between (I) desiring victory and aiming at persuading others and (II) to be in danger of desiring victory and aiming at persuading oneself. As is clear from T7, a person who acts in the spirit of (I) does not care about the truth. Xxxxxxxx none the less primarily aims at persuading himself. That is, by straying from the way of truth, Xxxxxxxx would primarily deceive himself, hence, as a b...
