Socrates never wrote anything down. Everything we know about him comes from his student Plato’s dialogues.
He lived in Athens around 400 BCE. He walked around asking people questions. Simple questions that turned out to be impossible to answer.
“What is justice?” he’d ask a politician.
“What is courage?” he’d ask a general.
“What is beauty?” he’d ask an artist.
The politician would give a confident answer. Then Socrates would ask another question. And another. Within minutes, the politician would realize his definition of justice made no sense. It contradicted itself or led to absurd conclusions.
This happened over and over. Every expert Socrates questioned discovered they couldn’t actually explain the thing they claimed to understand.
The Oracle at Delphi once said Socrates was the wisest man in Athens. Socrates was confused. He felt ignorant about everything. So he went around questioning people who seemed wise to see what they knew that he didn’t.
He discovered something strange. Everyone else felt certain about things they couldn’t explain. Socrates felt uncertain about everything, but at least he knew he didn’t know.
That was his wisdom: recognizing his ignorance.
Most people think they understand justice, courage, love, truth. They never question their assumptions. Socrates realized that admitting ignorance is the starting point of actually learning anything.
The Athenians eventually executed him for “corrupting the youth” and “impiety.” Really, they killed him for being annoying. He kept showing people they didn’t know what they thought they knew.
I think Socrates would fit right into our current moment. Everyone’s an expert on everything. Few people admit uncertainty about anything.
Maybe wisdom still starts with three words: I don’t know.