Socrates' Pursuit of Wisdom Essay

Socrates was a Greek philosopher who stood for knowledge and virtue. He believed that in order for people to live their best lives, it is necessary for them to do what is right. “It is wicked and shameful to do wrong, to disobey ones superior, be he god or man (Cooper, 29b).” Socrates represents self-knowledge which is evident through his quest for finding someone who was wiser than he was. After his run ins with the likes of the local politicians, craftsmen and poets, Socrates comes to the realization that although these individuals had mastered their craft and were knowledgeable in their field of work, they were clueless in many other important aspects of life. Through this awareness, he accepts the fact that

He goes on to tell the story of why he began to challenge the intellectuals of society in the first place. Socrates tells of a deceased friend by the name of Chaerephon who “… went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether… there was anyone wiser than I [Socrates] was, and the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser.” This troubles Socrates, and he contemplates what this statement really means. Unable to come to a sound conclusion, he devises a plan to get the answer he seeks: “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.’” After meeting with a man who had a reputation for being wise, however, Socrates departed without the man wiser than he. He left the man, thinking to himself: “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.” After encounters with multiple men who possess supposed wisdom, Socrates realizes the prophecy must be correct: “… but the truth is, O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and in this oracle he means to say that the wisdom of men is little or nothing…” Socrates proceeds to question Meletus in front of the councilmen. He questions Meletus about the charges he has brought against him and his reasons

Socrates has gotten the reputation of not being a great person. This reputation has come about somewhat due to the Oracle at Delphi. Socrates’s friend Chaerephon went to the oracle and asked who the wisest person was. The response was the Socrates was the wisest. Socrates did not believe this and set out prove the oracle wrong. He found people that were known as wise people around the town and surrounding areas. Socrates would question them to try and show

He wants to be seem as a peer to the common person in Athens. Socrates is a skilled speaker who feels that simple, direct language would be used to arrive at the truth. While Socrates is saying he is a common man who charges nothing for his views and wisdom. He tells of the poets, craftsman and politicians that he met with that were skilled in their trade but they lacked wisdom.

Socrates first major point to the council in his defense came early in “Plato’s Apology”. He described a time when he used to travel seeking others just as highly educated as he was. This group consisted of “poets, politicians, and many others” (70). His idea was to see how wise and truthful these people really were, and he noticed a common theme “I am wiser than this human being… but he supposes he knows something when he does not know, while I just as I do not know, do not even suppose that I do… that whatever I do not know, I do not even suppose I know” (70) .Socrates is providing in detail about how he’s

Throughout the piece Socrates, deals largely with the examination of others. In “The Apology”, Socrates said, "above all I should like to spend my time there, as here, in examining and searching people's minds, to find out who is really wise among them, and who only thinks that he is." In this, we see how the philosopher views the people around him. He thought that it was his responsibility to examine the “wise” men around him and expose their false claims of wisdom as ignorance (“The Apology”, n.d.). He is implying that it is important to evaluate the people around you, and their claims of being wise as well as that should not take everything at face value and should gain our own sense wisdom by examining ourselves and the people around us.

Socrates believes that real wisdom lies with the gods, and human wisdom is worthless. As an example of this, Socrates shows that when the Delphi said that he was the wisest person, he did not mean Socrates as an individual, but instead as an example of a person who realizes that human wisdom is worthless. Socrates claims that he gained his reputation from having human wisdom, and not from any divine intervention. However, he believes that it is divine duty to spread wisdom. He believes this whole heartedly, stating that if were to be released with only one condition as to stop teaching he would respond with, “Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy…”

In Apology, Socrates is confronted with questioning of why he thinks people slander him the way they do. To answer, Socrates brings up the term of “human wisdom.” This is a type of wisdom that is not godly, and Socrates expresses that he is not wise at all. Human wisdom composes the notion that having great wisdom is having the ability to not think he knows what he does not know. In order to support his claim, Socrates brings up the Oracle story. Here, Chaerephon asked the Oracle if anyone was wiser then Socrates and “Pythian replied that no one was wiser.” In Socrates understanding of how he was most wiser, he told a story about going to three different types of people: politicians, poets, and craftsmen. Out of these three, it was understood that the hierarchy is reversed and the craftsmen are truly wise in their craft but felt this made them speak in other fields, when if fact they knew nothing about. These cases bring up the human wisdom and why Socrates is exploited as very wise, because he does not try to think and speak on something he does not know. The oracle brings up the “form” of what human wisdom is and uses Socrates as an example. In the end, the person who is wisest knows that his wisdom is worthless.

In these, he tested to see how wise so-called wise men were and each and every time he claimed that these men were not wise at all. Socrates went and tested all sorts of men from poets, politicians, and artisans. He claimed that all were inferior to him because they claimed to know much when they knew not much at all. And that, although he did not know all the tings these men knew, he was still wiser. He went so far as to tell these men what he thought, and even stated all these feelings in the court. This, no doubt, led to his general hatred more than any other act. But I wonder, had anyone ever questioned Socrates? And on what basis did he judge wisdom? Socrates claimed that a man who thought themselves the wisest were the least, but that is exactly what he was, a man who thought himself the wisest. Maybe he was the type of person to dislike any man who’s intellect challenged his own. “Is there not here conceit of knowledge, which is a disgraceful sort of ignorance? And this is the point in which, as I think, I am superior to men in general.”

Socrates knowing himself, held in certain that he had “no wisdom small or great” (Plato, trans. 1871). Upon hearing the prophecy about him from the Oracle of Delphi asserting that there was “no man wiser” than him in all of Athens, he became puzzled (Plato, trans. 1871). In response to the message about him from the Oracle of Delphi, Socrates felt obliged to disprove this statement by seeking a wiser man, and once found he would refute the prophecy by affirming to God "Here is a man who is wiser than I am; but you said that I was the wisest"(Plato, trans. 1871). Socrates embarked on a search for men with “the reputation of wisdom.” First, he interrogated a politician, then the poets, and then artisans. While questioning the politician, he found that “although he was thought wise by many, and wiser still

In the beautiful city of Athens, Greece, there was a philosopher Socrates, and his "Socratic method," was laid on the groundwork for the Western systems of logic and philosophy. Socrates did believe that he didn't know anything, and It was because of this that the Oracle told Socrates that he was wise and that he should seek out the 'wise men' to hear what they had to say. So Socrates began to travel to different parts of Greece to question the suppose 'wise’ men to see if they really knew all the answers to life. The youth laid their eyes on Socrates since he possessed a different way of thinking and living. His unique method of questioning and insulting was believed that he

This, I believe, is what Socrates viewed wisdom as in Plato’s Apology. While it can be inferred that Socrates viewed wisdom as humility, knowledge, and self-knowledge through his examinations of the politicians, poets, and craftsmen, this is not Socrates’ complete view of wisdom. The more comprehensive view Socrates held of wisdom lies in his belief

What Socrates was looking for in wisdom, was not what everyone else determined as wisdom at the time. Socrates was looking for someone who had a human kind of wisdom, only attainable by man, and not a superhuman wisdom, which no man could obtain. Socrates did not believe he was wise due to the fact that he had no specific definitions and therefore he could not be wise since he did not know anything. Nevertheless, the people he spoke to, who was supposedly wise, were ignorant of their own lack of knowledge, and therefore they could not be wiser than him. The oracle at Delphi made a prophecy about Socrates, stating that Socrates was the wisest of all men. However, Socrates did not believe this prophecy and sought out to find someone wiser than

He did not feel that he was even slightly wise let alone the wisest man. He tried to prove the oracle wrong by examining reputedly wise men and he realized that they thought that they knew things that they did not and this made them unwise. It was after these encounters that Socrates realized that the oracle "meant that human wisdom is worth little or nothing."(19) It was this realization that made Socrates wise.

     “The Unexamined Life is not Worth Living.” This is the famous quote proclaimed by Socrates, a controversial philosopher of ancient Athens. He believed that anyone could lead a significant and meaningful existence by examining his or her own life and ideas very thoroughly. (Soccio)