What is the logic behind this quote?

Question

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing"- Socrates
To me there is no logic in this statement? Can you come up with anything?

Answer 1

socrates was not just a philosopher, he was the leader of a spiritual movement.

the statements refers the his greek beliefs about the soul
i will leave that part of it up to you--- however here is a brief explaination of the more literal and less inferred meaning of his statement-

in reality all the things we "know" we in fact believe to be true
they are not reality, they are images in our mind based on our experiences, nothing more, nothing less


while they may indeed reflect reality accurately, they are not reality
because (for example an apple)
the apple is the apple
our beliefs about what the apple is, our knowledge about the apple
is a belief, an idea, not the apple
only the apple-(reality) is the apple -(reality)

in reality all the beliefs that we have, may be false
and in reality we believe all things, and know nothing for sure
... this is true regardless of how sound the reasons for our belief may be

--
socrates is speaking firstly about, the merits of knowing the limitation of the human mind-(thoughts) and the limitations of knowledge

and secondly discussing the sophist-(spiritual philosophical movement) view of the truer knowledge that is being itself, and is not a thought

Answer 2

during the circumstances of two and 3 millennia in the past in components of the Mediterranean and interior the middle East, poets and scribes and oracles, sages, avatars, and prophets spoke with meanings great-imposed one upon yet another, having double or multiple meanings. the great Sufi grasp, a poet and scribe, Maulana Jalal-ud Din'l Rumi consciously wrote and spoke this style. this style substitute into used partly because of the fact freedoms in speech weren't allowed as they are on the instant, and individuals ought to go through a fashion forward for loss of life, slavery, or banishment in the event that they breached; 2d, the human beings of those circumstances had no longer the collective worldly sophistication, nor the literacy. 0.33, the state of expertise substitute into no longer because it exists now yet substitute into rather given to fears, and specific superstition and fantasy. Conveyance by utilising tale-type and tale-telling have been consequently safest, given by utilising the oral custom with the aid of females and adult adult males individuals of sunshine in whom the plenty felt they might have confidence: such because of the fact the citation above is an occasion of that. yet another address it extremely is, while "the meek will inherit the Earth," the sturdy will inherit the heavens. continually some ought to certainly peer into those diffused meanings.

Answer 3

Although so many people epoused Socrates as the wisest man, Socrates never called himself wise. He always claimed that he knew nothing. Socrates believed no mortal could ever attain true wisdom in it's purest form. One could strive for it, but that's the best that anyone could do.

Knowing this about Socrates helps to reveal what this quote's all about. It's saying "since you can never attain certain truth or knowledge, the wisest thing that you can say is that you don't know anything."

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

from a strictly logical view, that quote is a contradiction, knowing that you know nothing, since knowing that fact is knowing something, not nothing...

I believe that the meaning intended is more along the lines of,
'true wisdom is in accepting that you know nothing' or
'true wisdom is in knowing that you know very, very little of what's really out there'

Answer 5

It's a plea for intellectual humility, rather than arrogance.

If you believe you know, you shut your brain off, and become impervious to new ideas and new evidence.

If you keep an open mind, you continue to understand more and understand better. You adjust your thinking in light of new facts. You are able to take on ideas, without having to believe them, but to see where they lead.

You don't dismiss new thoughts out of hand, without finding out whether they're worth anything, lend understanding.

You stop looking for Absolute Truth, and incorporate insight wherever you find it.

There are a lot of people who get a big insight, then shut off, as though there were only the one insight to be had.

There's always more to know, more insights to get and incorporate into your way of thinking.

Of all that there is to know, whatever knowledge you have is a tiny bit. And taking that bit too seriously closes you off in ways you don't even realize.

"The fool doth think he is wise; but the wise man knows himself to be a fool" -- As You Like It

Answer 6

No long explanation here. Wisdom is knowing that, in the grand scheme of things, you really don't know anything. So as long as you know that you can always learn more, you are a wise person.

Answer 7

Because if you know nothing or use that mindset.....given you are eager to learn....the stuff you already learned will not get in your way of learning from a different perspective or add to the knowledge you already have!
In other words....humble.

here's another one that if you get it is along the same line:

The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeing new landscapes,
but in having new eyes.

~ Marcel Proust ~

Hope that helped.

Answer 8

if you know what you don't know then you are wise enough to be taught. If you think or act like you know it all, then you are truly foolish for no one can know it all, and the things they do know will be incomplete.
The logic is in its humble simplicity. Admit you are ignorant rather than blow hot air, and people will respect you more for being truthful.

Answer 9

Socrates said--" I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance." see-www.quotations.com.
"Now I know that I know nothing" is similar but often attributed to Hippocrates, not to Socrates. To me the second quote means that by learning and practising one discovers how much more there is to learn, and how little one knows.
Imagine Hippocrates--"a father of medicine," who knew so much about human body and healing, unable to help someone who was dying. He knew that he couldn't help, thus he felt that his knowledge was useless as if he knew nothing. For the meaning of Socrates' quote please refer to its source--Plato--427-347BC.--Socrates's student--Socrates could not write and write! Hippocrates--460--370B.C.--fatheer of medicine and Plato's contemporary. Good luck.

Answer 10

You need to accept that there are no absolutes and that includes knowledge. You have to be wise enough to know that what you know is never complete and could be wrong.