[FRIAM] Socratic Trolling

[uǝlƃ ☣]

I expect that I've posted this before.  But still, my favorite contribution to this topic is here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070609085706/http://www.sm.luth.se/~torkel/eget/net.html


On 02/21/2018 11:26 AM, Steven A Smith wrote:
> In my last contribution to the EvoPsych thread I referenced the following paper:
> 
> https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-american-philosophical-association/article/aristotle-on-trolling/540BB557C82186C33BFFB61E35A0B5B6/core-reader
> 
> and accused him of "Socratic Trolling".  I of course, meant that in the kindest of ways.  
> 
> From the Excerpt: [...]
> 
> 
> I have long been aware that what we often call "trolls" can be beneficial to a group, and appreciate the description provided above.  I have seen very little *if any* real (destructive?) trolling on this list which I believe remains > 600 strong despite the vocal subset only being roughly a few dozen.
> 
> I also wonder at the relation between a "Troll" and a "Trickster <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trickster>"... where the Trickster is credited with having both secret knowledge and even sometimes powers.   The Trickster is more ambiguous in his/her good/evil role, but the above description of the possibilities within a Troll suggests that a Troll might well have an aspect of Trickster built in.   The most obvious shared feature is the ambiguity of in-group/out-group status...   which is one of the things that defines a Shaman.  In all cases, one must be "insider" enough to understand the in-group well enough to be relevant but "outsider" enough to be capable of having enough perspective and motivation to operate outside of the group norms.

-- 
☣ uǝlƃ