Socrates, Plato’s teacher, 2000 years ago he argued for living and on one occasion he was engaged in a dialogue with a Sophist named Gorgias. Socrates wanted to know if Gorgias was the same kind of man that Socrates claimed to be. He said “I am one who would be glad to be refuted if I said anything untrue and would be glad to refute anyone who speaks untruly.” But here’s the important part. Socrates says “However it is the greater good to be refuted than to refute because its a larger benefit to be delivered from evil than to deliver another.” Socrates is saying it is better to be shown where you were wrong than it show another where he or she is wrong.
From the notebook