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We think of the world, and our place in it, in terms of what we know and what we think we know. Our libraries are full of everything we know and capture, but they barely mention our ignorance. Our preoccupation with knowledge, both abstract and concrete, often prevents us from noticing the ignorance that is close at hand. In turn, this inability prevents us from realizing the open and uncertain nature of much of human life.
It’s hard to talk about ignorance because we take it as something bad. However, our ignorance, as much as our knowledge, defines or limits the world for us. Our tendency to be unaware of our ignorance has already been observed. Socrates said that it was his awareness of his ignorance, his own and that of others, that made him the wisest person in ancient Greece. This was extraordinary, since we normally think of wisdom as linked to and derived from great knowledge. Therefore, in this article we address ignorance from the Socratic point of view.
The awareness of ignorance as the principle of wisdom
For Socrates, it is in the vastness of our ignorance that both our sense of the marvelous and our sense of the sacred develop. The dialectical interaction between ignorance and knowledge fosters the process of dialogue. Meanwhile, focusing only on knowledge would quickly kill him off. Such an approach would prevent the development of the understanding that is at the core of Socrates’ claim to wisdom.
On the other hand, Socrates insisted that it is possible for everyone to know how to act correctly and virtuously. One can also know how to care for the soul and how to perfect or achieve excellence that is distinctively human. For Socrates, this excellence found its expression in philosophizing and correct action. Socrates claimed to have found the key to wisdom in the awareness of his ignorance. For Socrates, therefore, awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom and understanding.
Thus, excellence is expressed as an intelligent action that arises from the open awakening to which Socratic philosophy leads. This happens when reflecting frees us from our claims to knowledge, from our prejudices, from our beliefs. Even when it frees us from our opinions, our wrong habits of thought and the like. That is, when philosophizing, which is reflecting itself, frees us from the ignorance of our ignorance.
The many forms of ignorance
First, we have ignorance. We are ignorant of our ignorance. This is the state in which Socrates claimed to find many citizens of Athens. When we don’t know that we are ignorant, we are in the most undesirable state. According to Socrates, this is because we don’t even know enough to start looking for knowledge. If we believe we know the ends of human life, but in reality we do not know them, the realization of those ends will be, at best, a matter of chance. In the worst case, our presumption of knowledge could lead us to act coherently and contrary to the realization of those purposes and our own excellence.
However, there are forms of ignorance that particularly concerned Socrates. In summary, these are the following:
- Ignorance of our actions.
- Ignorance of our unique situations.
- Ignorance of our relationships.
- The ignorance of what to do, how to do it and why.
- And, above all, the ignorance of the self.
Ignorance of oneself or the self is the ignorance from which all other forms of ignorant action flow. Observing these other forms of ignorance without realizing it can lead us to inform ourselves, but the full understanding of the first depends on self-knowledge. The expert may have detailed knowledge of the leaves of a tree and not know the forest as a biotic unit. We must know not only the trees and the forest, but also ourselves in the forest from our ecological interactions. Only then is smart forestry possible. Not taking into account the human subject is not having a truly objective knowledge.
The objective knowledge of ignorance
For Socrates, objective knowledge is not the knowledge of objects independent of the knower. On the contrary, it is the knowledge of the knower and the object of knowledge. That is, who he knows and what he is known by. This, in relation and in action, in a reciprocal dynamic process. This knowledge of self and of the object, which encompasses both ignorance and knowledge, is the source of our deepest spiritual values.
As a mere set of information, knowledge brings wisdom. However, according to Socrates, it can bring arrogance and pride. The awareness of our ignorance, on the other hand, can awaken humility and compassion. It is difficult to realize one’s own ignorance in this way. Socrates thought it was so difficult that he considered his special mission to be that of a horsefly to harass the “sleeping” citizens of Athens. He says in the Apology that they needed to be stung to awaken to their own ignorance.
Only when the human being acutely feels his ignorance can he go through the disorienting fire of a dialogue that allows him to abandon false opinions. Socrates said that only then are we prepared to enter into that inquiry that has as its objective the knowledge of our areté . The knowledge that, for Socrates, is necessary to act wisely.
This knowledge is something that we all have to achieve for ourselves, because it is not just information that someone imparts. It is nothing other than the knowledge of oneself as an agent, as a subject. In the words of Socrates, it is the knowledge of the soul. It is not a theory, nor a belief. Right living and virtuous action are based on this knowledge and care of the soul.
The care of the soul against ignorance
For Socrates, the care of the soul requires comprehensive knowledge and a practice that is a continuous development of its excellence. This excellence is nothing more than his capacity for awareness, understanding, and intelligent discernment. Only then do we find balance, harmony, integration and eudaemonia . It is from that care of the soul, through open inquiry and learning, that understanding arises; thus, justice and goodness are poured into our actions.
Thus, Socrates’ belief is that no harm can come to a truly good person from outside. This, according to him, because only our own ignorance and lack of authenticity can harm the soul.
What Socrates does not say is something that each of us can only realize through our own insight. The teacher can only bring us to a state from which we can understand clearly. For this reason, Socrates also calls himself a midwife, as someone who helps people pregnant with knowledge to bring it to birth inside them. Of course, before the appearance of this awareness, one may have acted in the right way. You can know what you need to know, but not know that you know it. Socrates suggests that no one can teach us this. It is not a form of knowledge that can be transmitted, as we have already pointed out.
Virtue in the care of the soul
For Socrates, virtue is one in the soul. It is his own reward, since it is the expression and development of the excellence of the human being. The care of the soul is the development of its virtue through the process of knowledge that is the Socratic inquiry. The many virtues are one, since they derive from the same excellence in the well-cared for soul. Furthermore, in this unity, all the virtues are forms of knowledge.
The virtues, be it justice, bravery, temperance, etc., are all expressions in action. An action that demonstrates in various contexts what the virtuous person is and their knowledge of good. Courage is that knowledge in the face of danger. Justice is that knowledge in the context of social interaction and conflict resolution. And so on. For this reason, for Socrates, the question must always be: does this act harm the care of the soul, does it harm my excellence or that of others, or does it improve us?
The virtue of Socratic ignorance, then, is that it makes our dialogue possible. As we have seen, it also makes possible the action that virtue performs. Virtue by which the intelligence of the soul is in tune with our highest excellence.
In more words of the mortals of this century, the virtue of Socratic ignorance allows us to reflect on what we know, what we think we know and the reason for this knowledge. Also, if we seek excellence, this allows us to recognize that we are ignorant, in order to be less ignorant.
Sources
- Boeri, M. (2021). Socratic ignorance as an epistemic virtue . THOUGHT, vol. 77(293).
- Morales, H. (2015). On Learned Ignorance: Socrates .
- Peralta, A. (sf). Notes on Socrates .
- Plato. (1985). dialogues . Editorial Gredos.
- Popper, K. (2001). The knowledge of ignorance .
