who said i know that i know nothing
Socrates
title: I know that I know nothing text: I know that I know nothing "I know that I know nothing" is a saying derived from Plato's account of the Greek philosopher Socrates. It is also called the Socratic paradox. The phrase is not one that Socrates himself is ever recorded as saying. This saying is also connected or conflated with the answer to a question Socrates (according to Xenophon) or Chaerephon (according to Plato) is said to have posed to the Pythia, the oracle of Delphi, in which the Oracle stated something to the effect of "Socrates is the wisest." The phrase, originally from Latin ("'"), is a title: I know that I know nothing text: know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know. "Socratic paradox" may also refer to statements of Socrates that seem contrary to common sense, such as that "no one desires evil" (see Socratic paradoxes). I know that I know nothing "I know that I know nothing" is a saying derived from Plato's account of the Greek philosopher Socrates. It is also called the Socratic paradox. The phrase is not one that Socrates himself is ever recorded title: I know that I know nothing text: possible paraphrase from a Greek text (see below). It is also quoted as "'" or """". It was later back-translated to Katharevousa Greek as "", ["èn oîda óti"] "oudèn oîda"). The saying, though widely attributed to Plato's Socrates in both ancient and modern times, actually occurs nowhere in Plato's works in this form. Two prominent Plato scholars have recently argued that the claim should not be attributed to Plato's Socrates. Evidence that Socrates does not actually claim to know nothing can be found at "Apology" 29b-c, where he claims twice to know something. See also "Apology" 29d, where Socrates indicates title: Socrates text: know that I know nothing." The statement "I know that I know nothing" is often attributed to Socrates, based on a statement in Plato's "Apology". The conventional interpretation of this is that Socrates's wisdom was limited to an awareness of his own ignorance. Socrates considered virtuousness to require or consist of "phronēsis", "thought, sense, judgement, practical wisdom, [and] prudence." Therefore, he believed that wrongdoing and behaviour that was not virtuous resulted from ignorance, and that those who did wrong knew no better. The one thing Socrates claimed to have knowledge of was "the art of love" ("ta erôtikê"). This assertion title: I know that I know nothing text: a passage by Diogenes Laertius in his work "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers" where he lists, among the things that Socrates used to say: "", or "that he knew nothing except that he knew that very fact (i.e. that he knew nothing)". Again, closer to the quote, there is a passage in Plato's "Apology", where Socrates says that after discussing with someone he started thinking that: I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not