In the self‑verification of thoughts (u: the process of being accepted or rejected by oneself), it is a form of resolute behavior toward an idea that disregards the opinions of people who are not you and that are not based on rational logic.
Usually, when we are forming ideas, the negative or positive attitudes of the people around us toward our formation process or its subject shape our own behavior toward that process or its subject. For example, person X is interested in political philosophy and in turning values into an ideology, and truly struggles with it, while person Y makes unfounded remarks such as “Will you go work in the presidential apparatus?” or “Don’t get into politics; you won’t be able to get in or out,” which have no logical basis. Such attitudes can lead X to think “Indeed, I do a lot of meaningless work,” and embed within his view of what he has learned and the values he has formed a “pre‑negative view” (u: a negative view formed before analyzing what it is).
To show determination and perseverance in an idea means, during its formation, not taking seriously any judgments that lack rational foundations concerning the idea’s subject, and, as long as the self‑verification does not contradict or reject them, not altering one’s behavior toward the idea nor inserting a “pre‑negative view” into it.
Although the historical portrait of Socrates is described with terms such as weak, eyes like pits, hairless, ugly, and shrouded in rags, Jacques-Louis David depicted Socrates as muscular, bearded, and resolute. This perseverance of thought is the embodiment of perseverance in the body.
Although Socrates, accused of corrupting the youth and of impiety toward the city’s gods, was told that he would be acquitted in court if he abandoned philosophy and the constancy of his own ideas, he chose instead to refuse to abandon his ideas, demonstrating loyalty to philosophy and civic law, and preferred to be executed by drinking poison. The true essence of determination and perseverance lies precisely in this form of Socratic behavior: when faced with judgments that lack rational logic, do not renounce the ideas you have grounded in reason, and exhibit perseverance and resolve toward those ideas. [1]
References
- lucifermorningstar. «fikri qətiyyət». Sözaltı sözlük, 19.05.2021. soz6.com