Theme Of Wisdom In Plato's Apology

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Wisdom
A general understanding of the word wisdom is that it is knowledge, and that the wisest people are always the most educated people. This can lead to a lot of confusion about wisdom, and the lack thereof. According to Oxford Dictionaries, wisdom is defined as “the quality of having experience, knowledge and good judgement.” This means that the most educated people are the wisest, no? And people who have spent many years in their respective fields are wise beyond belief? According to Plato, the answer to both of those questions is no.
In Plato’s Apology, Socrates and his companion Chaerephon go and visit the oracle in Delphi. Chaerephon asks the oracle if there is anyone wiser than Socrates and, to Socrates’ surprise, the oracle answers no. This leaves Socrates in a confused state. He wonders that since there are many people around the community who have an extensive education and who are widely regarded as very wise. This sparks an investigation by Socrates to find someone wiser than him, because he believes that there is no way he is the wisest person. …show more content…

Interrogating these people led Socrates to the conclusion that people who claim to have knowledge either know less than they claim to, or simply have no coherent knowledge on the subject at all. Sure, these people know about their specific crafts and jobs, but they lack any wisdom and knowledge beyond their area of expertise, regardless of what they claim to know. Socrates is different from these other people because he understands his limitations and knows that he does not know everything, as opposed to thinking you are wise because you arrogantly believe you know more than you

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