Welcome to this week’s Friday Philosophy post! Today we open up a new chapter in our investigations into some of philosophy’s biggest ideas with a look at Socrates, one of the most famous philosophers of all time. Unlike many of the presocratics we’ve been looking at, we know quite a lot about Socrates, mostly from the writings of his student Plato.
Who Was He?
Socrates (470-399 BC) was an itinerant (wandering) philosopher who was born in Athens and lived during a time of great political unrest in the city. He taught solely by means of oratory and public discussion, so we don’t have any written works of his to investigate.
Scholars have struggled to discern how much of Plato’s writing represents Socrates’ thought, and it remains a grey area to this day. Socrates died as a rebel after he was put to death for allegedly corrupting the youth and not believing in the city gods. Those who are interested can read the fascinating account of the events leading up to Socrates’ death in Plato’s dialogue named Phaedo.
What’s the Big Idea?
There are many significant ideas that Socrates is remembered for. Many consider him to be the founder of the branch of philosophy called ‘ethics’, as he was less concerned with the metaphysical speculations of his predecessors and more concerned with personal conduct and how individuals and societies should live. But the big idea we’ll look at for the purpose of this article is Socrates’ claim that the only thing he was sure of was his own ignorance. The so-called ‘Socratic paradox’ is expressed in various slightly different forms, but is essentially this – “The only thing I know is that I know nothing”.
My Reflections
The Socratic paradox can be interpreted in different ways. Some believe Socrates was simply referring to the fact that the potential for knowledge is so vast that we can only know relatively little. Others believe it was a more literal statement of philosophical logic. In any case, it raises the question of what can be known; a predicament which would subsequently have an entire branch of philosophy – epistemology – dedicated to it.
In contrast to the Socratic paradox, I actually believe there are certain things that can be known. I can say with total certainty that I exist, and that God exists. Existence is a brute fact, albeit an incredibly mysterious one! I also believe that there are certain things that are absolutely true about God. For instance, God has the attribute of aseity (see this post); He is eternally existing and unable to be destroyed. That’s a fact.
On the other hand, an atheist would naturally take issue with what I have claimed in the previous paragraph, saying that my assurance that God exists is just a subjective belief not grounded in reality. The atheist might claim that some scientific facts are objectively true, but the existence of God isn’t.
While we might then conclude that any objective truth claim is actually subjective, the very fact that we can have this discussion means that at least one thing is true – there is some kind of reality in which we are having this discussion. Perhaps all of us, including Socrates, could agree on that.
Next week we’ll continue our look at the philosophers known as ‘the Academics’ with another great name – Plato. If you’re interested in reading that post, please be sure you’re subscribed to this blog so you receive an email with each new post. Thank you for reading!
Perfect Chaos 
18 responses to “Can We Know Anything?”
I agree with your assessment of Socrates’s statement on knowing.
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Thanks for that, and thanks for reading, David! 🙂
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The only objective truth is that all objective truth claims are subjective. – Post-truth Culture
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Hey, Duke. I’m not sure what to read into your comment, but thank you! Steven
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I was just making the point that culture, western at least, seems to be content with believing that all “truth” is fine, but none of it can trump another. Meaning basically that all truth is subjective, except the one truth that “all truth is subjective”.
In the same sense, your post was pointed at Socrates who said the only truth he could know was his own ignorance. I was just applying your post to our culture. How the “the only truth we can know is that all truth is on the same level”.
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Ah, thanks, I thought that was probably what you meant – I’m grateful for the clarification! Best wishes, Steven
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And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know (1 Corinithans 8:2). I think we should all keep this in mind. It helps us stay humble and understand the vast separation between our wisdom and God’s. Great post, Steven. Thanks!
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Definitely, Amanda. Thanks for sharing that important scripture.
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Thanks for the refresher, it’s
been decades since college Plato. Isn’t it interesting that Socrates demise was associated with his refusal to believe in their idolatry?
RD
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It is interesting, indeed!
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“Socrates’ claim that the only thing he was sure of was his own ignorance.” It becomes an ever stronger conviction with age. I am sure of the statement in its literal sense. I am not even sure that Bishop Berkeley was correct. I am an atheist but am always very well aware of Russell’ flying teapot – so little can be proved, despite incredible advances in science we are still in the dark ages.
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Incidentally I have long been fascinated by Wittgenstein’s ladder. We can not and should not do without philosophy but in the end it is all mere surmise.
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Hi Zeno! I have read a bit of Wittgenstein but must admit I’m not familiar with the ladder. Thanks for mentioning it, I’ll have to look it up 🙂
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Very thoughtful post, Steven! I love that you tackle these! Such food for thought. 🙂
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Thanks, Lynn! It’s good fun writing the philosophy posts, always gets me thinking 🙂 God bless you!
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[…] To round off the week I published my Friday Philosophy post. I really enjoyed writing this post, which looked at the famous Greek philosopher Socrates, and his big idea that the only thing we can truly know is that we know nothing. You can read the post, entitled Can We Know Anything? by clicking here. […]
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You wrote “I can say with total certainty that I exist, and that God exists”. But can you say that both are on the same plane? Can you say that the same rules apply? Or even that we can possibly know what God is like?
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Hi there! Thank you for reading my post.
I believe there are certainly differences, and that God has attributes that I don’t (such as the ‘omni’ characteristics). I do believe it’s possible to know some things about God, depending on what He reveals. It also seems that in respect of God a lot will remain mysterious during our earthly lives.
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