Praising
In Plato’s symposium a group of men are having a discussion about love, they are taking turns around a circle each giving their praise to the god of love. The authors technique is that each character builds upon a foundation so that when Socrates finally speaks he can make a killer speech, kinda like the minor characters set it up, he knocks it down.
Right before Socrates is Agathon, and he makes a really good dedication with a general cheer coming up from the group.
Socrates know’s that his dedication to the god love is going to be killer and that it will blow everyone out of the water. But before he speaks and makes Agathon’s argument look like child’s play he praises Agathon. In an actually genuine way he makes Agathon feel good about his high quality thoughts (Even though he knows they are wrong). Socrates could have taken the easy route and said “Yeah, but… *insert how Agathon is completely wrong*” but he didn’t.
This may have been something that was part of ancient Greek culture (It might have been disgraceful to put someone else to shame). But these days it seems like if there is an opportunity to prove someone wrong people will jump on the chance to make the other person feel bad.
Socrates’s recognised that although he was better than Agathon, it wasn’t from a lack of trying. He was just in a completely different class. It is like a heavy-weight boxer recognising that a light-weights punch is actually really powerful for a light-weight, even though the heavy-weight could outdo him with ease.
I feel that if this virtue were practiced for a persons entire life, that person would be extremely likeable. But I think it is a trait that was lost centuries ago.
Strikee 