Today’s Excerpt: The Story of Socrates

Socrates was an ancient Greek lover of wisdom — a philosopher — who was honest about how little he actually knew.

One day a friend told him that the Oracle of Delphi (a woman who made pronouncements about the world) said that Socrates was the wisest person in Greece. Hearing this, Socrates decided to try to prove the Oracle wrong. Certainly there was someone wiser than he was.

So Socrates spent his time talking to everyone he could, questioning their assumptions about the world. What he found was that, again and again, people who claimed to have lots of knowledge actually did not — even when they were certain they did.

Eventually, Socrates realized that the Oracle might have had a point. He was the wisest because he could admit what he didn’t know instead of trying to pretend.

Discuss:

• Who is someone wise (real or fictional)?