My introduction to philosophy was not through the study of philosophical books. Rather, it was through discussion. Whenever my friends and I discussed questions about philosophy, morality, or politics, I would take a position and present the idea to my friends. They would then ask me questions to expose the flaws in my thinking. They would criticize every aspect of my thought process, starting with my premises and axioms and ending with my conclusions. My friends would not do this as a way to spite me. Nor as a way to prove themselves superior to me. Rather, we would all do this to each other to develop our ideas and potentially find the “truth.” I never thought of myself as a philosopher, and I always thought of philosophy as an esoteric academic process to reach true ideas. When I read Plato’s Republic , widely regarded as one of the most important philosophical works in history, I was surprised to read what I did. Socrates’s friends presented their understanding of concepts, such as...