Dear Friends,
Thank you for reading and listening this week! Below is a short contemplation from Plato’s Apology on the wisdom of not knowing — along with links to this week’s videos and meditations. Until next week, be wise and be well!
📿 The Wisdom of Not Knowing
This week’s contemplation comes from the works of Plato. In the Plato’s Apology, he tells the story of Socrates’ trial.
The accusations against me have arisen out of a sort of wisdom which I practice. My practice of it arose out of a declaration of the Delphian Oracle that I was the wisest of men. I dare say, Athenians, that someone among you will reply, ‘Yes, Socrates, but what is the origin of these accusations which are brought against you; there must have been something strange which you have been doing. All these rumors and this talk about you would never have arisen if you had been like other men: tell us, then, what is the cause of them, for we should be sorry to judge hastily of you.’ Now I regard this as a fair challenge, and I will endeavor to explain to you the reason why I am called wise and have such an evil fame.
I went about searching after a man who was wiser than myself: at first among the politicians, then among the philosophers, and found that I had an advantage over them because I had no conceit of knowledge.
Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have such an evil name. When I heard the answer, I said to myself, What can the god mean? And what is the interpretation of his riddle? For I know that I have no wisdom, small or great. What, then, can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men? And yet he is a God and cannot lie; that would be against his nature. After long consideration, I thought of a method of trying the question. I reflected that if I could only find a man wiser than myself, then I might go to the god with a refutation in my hand. I should say to him, ‘Here is a man who is wiser than I am; but you said that I was the wisest.’
Accordingly, I went to one who had the reputation of wisdom and observed him—his name I need not mention; he was a politician whom I selected for examination—and the result was as follows: When I began to talk with him, I could not help thinking that he was not really wise, although he was thought wise by many, and still wiser by himself; and thereupon I tried to explain to him that he thought himself wise, but was not really wise, and the consequence was that he hated me, and his enmity was shared by several who were present and heard me. So I left him, saying to myself, as I went away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good. I am better off than he is—for he knows nothing and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know. […]
***Listen to this week’s contemplation courtesy of The Wisdom School podcast (Apple or Spotify).
Contemplation Questions (Pick one or create your own!):
What is wisdom?
What do you know for sure?
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Thank you for reading/listening this week; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
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