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Socrates, since he denied any kind of knowledge, then tried to find someone wiser than himself among politicians, poets, and craftsmen. It appeared that politicians claimed wisdom without knowledge; poets could touch people with their words, but did not know their meaning; and craftsmen could claim knowledge only in specific and narrow fields.
Socrates believed that philosophy – the love of wisdom – was the most important pursuit above all else. For some, he exemplifies more than anyone else in history the pursuit of wisdom through questioning and logical argument, by examining and by thinking.
Socrates (as depicted by Plato) generally applied his method of examination to concepts such as the virtues of piety, wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. Such an examination challenged the implicit moral beliefs of the interlocutors, bringing out inadequacies and inconsistencies in their beliefs, and usually resulting in aporia .
In Alcibiades I (a work of disputed authenticity, but which has traditionally been ascribed to Plato), Socrates persuades the youth Alcibiades not to enter into politics until he is further advanced in wisdom. Self-knowledge is one of the main themes of the dialogue, [39] and Socrates quotes the Delphic maxim several times throughout.
In the late 2nd and early 3rd century, the Christian apologist Tertullian, who wanted to expose the entire tradition of the extraordinary wisdom of Socrates as a deception in order to discredit philosophy by criticizing its outstanding representative. According to his account, the daimonion was a real being that exerted a corrupting influence ...
Wisdom became a major theme in Greek philosophy. Socrates equated wisdom with knowing one's own ignorance, while Plato argued that wisdom was the highest form of knowledge. [10] Aristotle distinguished between practical wisdom (phronesis) and theoretical wisdom (sophia), defining wisdom as the ability to deliberate well about the good life. [11]
Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance; he used to say that the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realization of one's ignorance is the first step in philosophizing. Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and has continued to do so in the modern era.
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.