ABSTRACT
Nevertheless, as Socrates' reputation for wisdom continues to grow, another impetuous student, Chaerephon, goes to the oracle of Delphi to ask if anyone is
wiser than Socrates. The priestess of Apollo, Pythia, replies that no one is. When Socrates hears the answer he is genuinely puzzled: "I have no wisdom, small or great. What can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men?" (426). But why does Socrates take the oracle's word at face value? Could the god also have meant that no one was wiser than Socrates because wisdom is not to be found among men? Socrates is even more explicit about his ignorance in the defense of his life at his trial, The Apology. After questioning another who claimed to be wise, Socrates concludes, "I am better off than he is-for he knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think that I know. In this latter particular, then, I seem to have the slight advantage over him" (327). What we have here is the great paradox of learning: we must first know what we want to know or recognize what we do not know. Is this confusing? Only at first. What Socrates suggests is that the first step to learning is knowing how to ask an honest question-one that you have no answer to or one that you have several answers to but none entirely satisfy. In short, unless you have questions, you cannot learn. As learning begins, the more you know, the more you [realize that] do not know. Such is the Socratic paradox.
