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Socrates's theory of virtue states that all virtues are essentially one, since they are a form of knowledge. [151] For Socrates, the reason a person is not good is because they lack knowledge. Since knowledge is united, virtues are united as well. Another famous dictum—"no one errs willingly"—also derives from this theory. [152]
This is technically a shorter paraphrasing of Socrates' statement, "I neither know nor think I know" (in Plato, Apology 21d). The paraphrased saying, though widely attributed to Plato's Socrates in both ancient and modern times, actually occurs nowhere in Plato's works in precisely the form "I know I know nothing."
34. "I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing." 35. "The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor." 36. "Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly ...
Socrates understood the Pythia's response to Chaerephon's question as a communication from the god Apollo and this became Socrates's prime directive, his raison d'être. For Socrates, to be separated from elenchus by exile (preventing him from investigating the statement) was therefore a fate worse than death.
Analogously, Socrates says, as the sun illuminates the visible with light so the idea of goodness illuminates the intelligible with truth, which in turn makes it possible for people to have knowledge. Also, as the eye's ability to see is made possible by the light of the Sun so the soul's ability to know is made possible by the truth of goodness.
Socrates considers his philosophical work as midwifery . This method, later also called Socratic method, consists in eliciting knowledge by a series of questions and answers. Protagoras, shown at the right with Democritus, was famous for the quote "Man is the measure of all things" and argued that knowledge was obtained from the senses.
In this way Socrates tries to show the way to real wisdom. One of his most famous statements in that regard is "The unexamined life is not worth living." This philosophical questioning is known as the Socratic method. Strictly speaking, the term Socratic dialogue refers to works in which Socrates is a character.
Socrates gently berates the rhapsode for being Protean, which after all, is exactly what a rhapsode is: a man who is convincingly capable of being different people on stage. Through his character Socrates, Plato argues that "Ion’s talent as an interpreter cannot be an art, a definable body of knowledge or an ordered system of skills," but ...