Socrates Ignorance Analysis

Wisdom knows Ignorance

What makes someone wise? I believe wisdom goes hand in hand with the self-awareness of ignorance. One of the best examples of this is Socrates. Socrates was thought by many to have been a very wise man simply because he acknowledged his own ignorance. I contend that when a person recognizes their lack of absolute intelligence, that person becomes more adept and open to learning. In The Apology, Plato recounts the words of Socrates while on trial in Athens and the following points support my assumption:

To be wise you must know ignorance

(1) If you believe you are ignorant, then you are open to knowledge.

(2) If you are open to knowledge, then you are wise.

(3) If you believe you are ignorant, then you are wise.

Ignorance

However, I feel the moment a person believes they have the utmost knowledge of a subject, that individual closes themselves off to new experiences. Socrates faced this type of situation when he went to visit a politician that was reputed to be wise. After talking with the politician Socrates was confounded by his arrogance. The Politician was so consumed with his superiority that out of embarrassment he rejected the idea he could be ignorant. Socrates therefor asserted that he was the wiser of the two because the Politician pretended to know when he did not know, while Socrates neither knew nor pretended to know. Premise (1) is not intended to make someone feel dumb, it simply indicates that those who admit they don’t have all-knowing knowledge of a subject are more prone to learn than a person who asserts they already have knowledge. For example, while in orchestra class a professor offers you and another student a tutorial on how to play the cello. Knowing that the frets on a cello are very similar to the violin, and you are already an expert violinist, you declined the offer stating that you already know how to play the cello. The other student, who is also a great violinist, recognizes that they really don’t know everything about the cello and therefore chooses to accept the tutorial. The other students took the opportunity to further educate themselves, while you chose to believe you

To recognize and acknowledge your own ignorance is to be wise. Socrates highlights this point when he tries to explain to the Athenians that he believed the oracle was only using him as a paradigm to teach. Socrates did not believe the oracle intended to say that he was the wisest man; only that Socrates was a man with a vast amount of wisdom because of his awareness of his own ignorance. The only way to ever truly be wise is to have the ability to admit that, although you may be keen in some areas, you don’t know it all. In the previously used examples, the student that chose to recognize their ignorance of the subject definitely had the upper hand when confronted with having to utilize their skills. If you admit you don’t know it, you can learn it, but if you believe you already know it, you can’t learn anything. Therefor if you believe you are ignorant, you are