The Socratic View Of Wisdom In Plato's The Apology
Wisdom, simply put, is “the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.” (wisdom, Dictionary.com Unabridged). The Socratic view of wisdom was that there should be a balance between knowing what you do and acknowledging that which you don’t, or, at the very least that is how Socrates wished to remain within the recounting of his speech in Plato’s The Apology: “So I made myself spokesman for the oracle, and asked myself whether I would be as I was – neither wise with their wisdom nor ignorant with their ignorance – or possess both qualities as they did. I replied through myself to the oracle that it was best for me to be as I was.” (Plato, 46)
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This is the root of all knowledge. If we can truly say that we know ourselves, then there are no more mysteries for us to uncover, only truths to be known. If we know ourselves and then use that knowledge to further branch out from there to grasp a better understanding of the world and people around us, we have then expanded upon our initial knowledge of simply us as an individual. We have begun the arduous journey down the path of enlightenment and gaining wisdom because of …show more content…
We know enough to know that we must strive to better ourselves and we know enough to know we are limited with what we know, be it that those limitations may or may not be self-imposed. We know enough to know that if there are limitations we can then arbitrarily choose to leave them in place or simply remove them and move forward. Those limitations might be blissful or feigned ignorance or even presumptuous arrogance. In the case of feigned ignorance, we are choosing not to know. Within that very act, however, lies an aspect of wisdom as in some cases we must be “wise enough” to “know enough” about whether or not knowing or doing something is the best course of action. Again, all based upon variables at the time we stop to use the wisdom we
This is the root of all knowledge. If we can truly say that we know ourselves, then there are no more mysteries for us to uncover, only truths to be known. If we know ourselves and then use that knowledge to further branch out from there to grasp a better understanding of the world and people around us, we have then expanded upon our initial knowledge of simply us as an individual. We have begun the arduous journey down the path of enlightenment and gaining wisdom because of …show more content…
We know enough to know that we must strive to better ourselves and we know enough to know we are limited with what we know, be it that those limitations may or may not be self-imposed. We know enough to know that if there are limitations we can then arbitrarily choose to leave them in place or simply remove them and move forward. Those limitations might be blissful or feigned ignorance or even presumptuous arrogance. In the case of feigned ignorance, we are choosing not to know. Within that very act, however, lies an aspect of wisdom as in some cases we must be “wise enough” to “know enough” about whether or not knowing or doing something is the best course of action. Again, all based upon variables at the time we stop to use the wisdom we