Ignorance is a Bliss: Socrates Opinion on Ignorance in Knowledge

Wisdom is the knowledge gained by a person through experiences or education. In other words, wisdom is the capability to learn from experiences or asking questions. This essay will present the explanation Socrates gives for the oracle of Delphi’s claimed that he never lies about his knowledge of something he did not know and show why he was the wisest man in Athens.

There are several explanations Socrates gives to this statement. For example, when he heard about this news, he set out to find who the wise man was by interviewing the people of Athens who were most respected for their wisdom such as politicians, teachers, and artists (Plato, p. 2). Nevertheless, Socrates concluded that they all had a fatal weakness, and they all believed that they knew a great deal, but were ignorant of what they did not know (Plato, p. 2). Also, Socrates said that he was as ignorant as any other person, with a minor advantage that he at least knew he was ignorant for example, Socrates has no exception as he too accepted that he did not know anything beautiful and good and in that manner, he was the wisest and smartest of the full population of ignorant people (Plato, p. 2). Further, Socrates concludes that “what I do not know I do not think I know” (Plato, p. 2). Therefore, from the outcomes it was confirmed that Socrates never lies about his knowledge of something he did not know or had no knowledge about.

Another viewpoint, Socrates was the wisest man in Athens because he asks questions after questions, to show what someone literally knew. For example, he engaged in conversation with poet by asking about his poetry passage but poet failed to explain the meaning of the poem (Plato, p. 2), which leads to the result that Socrates was better than poet in terms of explaining the content to others. Furthermore, Socrates wraps up that it is correct and justified to have virtuous ignorance than dishonest ignorance because virtuous ignorance allows the happiness and help us to search the truth without any assurance that we will find the answer (Plato, p. 2). Thus, Socrates had nothing proper knowledge exclude the matter that nobody occupies a proper wisdom, but his wisdom made people of Athens wonder and also, his wisdom has no visible limit which leads to that Socrates was the wisest man in Athens.