ABSTRACT
The case of Socrates is exceptional in many respects-mainly because Socrates was an exceptional person. Whatever he did or said, he challenged everything-and everyone-with his mere existence, let alone with his questions, inquiries, and arguments. Of course, ‘normal’ people as well do not just function according to the imperatives of a given hierarchical social system. As the analysis in Sections 4.4 and 4.5 revealed, superiors and subordinates cross boundaries regularly as the following Table 8 shows. Some of these crossings represent serious threats to any hierarchical social order and might even lead to system change:
1) All of subordinates’ strong crossings threaten a social system considerably. This probably does not come as much of a surprise. When subordinates revolt openly, have an interest in changing the system, and/or show alternative, nonhierarchical identities, emotions or moral characters, then they do not simply seek specifi c advantages for themselves within the system; they want the system to be replaced-and with it those who represent it.
