this is a quote by socrates.
do you agree or disagree?
2007-04-06 06:38:36 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
i am amazed at how many interesting answers i've gotten so far. thanks.
2007-04-06 09:33:11 · update #1
In general terms I agree. I think it is meant to illustrate the fact that the more knowledge you gain the more you realise there are vast amounts of things you don't know and perhaps/probably will never know. If the amount of things you know is a finite set and the amount of things you don't know is a near-infinite set the amount of things you know amounts to nearly zero in comparison (phew!)
I don't know if I would word it 'I am the wisest man alive' though ;)
2007-04-06 11:29:42 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I am not sure who wrote that. But I bet later someone will come along and guess that answer. (later) we will have even a better system of connecting quotes with who first penned the expression. Until then, some folks claim they coined other peoples discoveries. (Of course great minds do think alike; I wonder who first said that?)
2007-04-06 06:47:29 · answer #2 · answered by MrsOcultyThomas 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i absolutely agree, it's one of my favorite quotes. Anyone with real intelligence will admit that if the concept of God is open, everything (Bible, science) could be completely false. We may not be anything more than someone's dream (or nightmare).
The problem comes when you try to live with this belief as your base. You can always point out how others shouldn't rush to conclusions, but sometimes we all have to. Anyone who really thought they didn't know anything would just commit suicide or something.
2007-04-06 06:45:41 · answer #3 · answered by ajj085 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, the wisest men alive know something, and don't claim to know everything. Why is it all or nothing with people?
2007-04-06 06:56:01 · answer #4 · answered by Real Friend 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The wisest man will be the first to admit to idiocasy.
It is true.
with all the knowledge one might have, your still an ant compared to the universe.
And only a wise man will realize that.
2007-04-06 06:42:42 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Exactly. Imagine how much stuff there is to know in the universe. How can our pathetic little minds even come close to understanding any of it?
2007-04-06 06:47:16 · answer #6 · answered by teamjesus_ca 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Thank God, Plato wrote a lot of books..is Plato, Socrates' pupil, the one who quoted this, because Socrates did not pen anything.
Disagree....Knowledge is like faith; you never know how little you have -- until you have a little.
Seems to me like a really moronic starting point, the blind would then lead the blind -- into that big ditch, that Jesus talked about.
2007-04-06 06:44:36 · answer #7 · answered by Bill S 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
It's illogical nonsense.
If you know nothing, you can't know "one thing."
It's a statement meant to make you think...which is a good thing. It's not some kind of wonderful revealed truth. Socrates was fond of making nonsense statements intended to make people think. He was often amazed that so many considered them deep insights of wisdom -- it amused him greatly :)
Peace.
2007-04-06 06:43:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Yes:
1 Corinthians 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
2007-04-06 06:41:43 · answer #9 · answered by NONAME 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yeah, that sounds like Socrates to me.
2007-04-06 06:42:49 · answer #10 · answered by Calvin James Hammer 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋