The exact words
The oracle and the puzzle
In Plato’s Apology, his account of Socrates’ trial in 399 BC, Socrates tells the jury a story to explain why so many Athenians dislike him. His friend Chaerephon once went to the oracle of Apollo at Delphi and asked whether anyone was wiser than Socrates. The priestess answered that no one was.
Socrates says he was baffled, because he was conscious of having no wisdom at all. So he set out to test the oracle by questioning people with a reputation for wisdom: politicians, poets and craftsmen. Each time he found the same thing. They believed they knew a great deal, but under questioning they could not explain what they claimed to know.
What Socrates concluded
After talking with one politician, Socrates reflects: “Although I do not suppose that either of us knows anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is, for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know.” That small difference is his advantage. The oracle, he decides, meant that human wisdom is worth little, and the wisest person is the one who, like Socrates, realizes this.
The famous slogan “I know that I know nothing” is a neat later summary of this passage, but it is stronger than what Plato wrote. Socrates does not claim to know nothing at all; elsewhere in the same speech he says he knows that doing wrong is shameful. His point is about not pretending to knowledge you do not have.
How to use it
The idea is a fine theme for any speech about learning and humility. In writing, use the actual wording or say “Socrates’ famous claim to know only that he knew nothing,” which signals that it is a summary rather than a direct quote.
What people get wrong
Socrates said, in these words, “I know that I know nothing.”
Plato has him say something more modest: unlike others, he does not think he knows what he does not know. The slogan is a later summary.
Timeline
- Before 399 BCSocrates' friend Chaerephon asks the oracle at Delphi whether anyone is wiser than Socrates. The oracle answers that no one is.
- 399 BCAt his trial, Socrates explains how he tested the oracle by questioning people reputed to be wise, and concluded that his only advantage was knowing he did not know.
- Later centuriesThe idea is compressed into the slogan “I know that I know nothing,” often in Latin as “scio me nihil scire.”
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Did Socrates say “I know that I know nothing”?
Not in those words. In Plato's Apology he says that he neither knows nor thinks he knows, while others think they know when they do not.
What is Socratic wisdom?
Awareness of the limits of your own knowledge. Socrates concluded that the oracle called him the wisest man because he alone recognized his ignorance.
What is the Latin version?
“Scio me nihil scire,” “I know that I know nothing,” is a later Latin form of the idea, not something found in Plato.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.