Breaking the Barriers of Wisdom 

September 2021

Lately, I have been thinking extensively about Socrates' (470-399 BC) proposition that "the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." [1] Socrates' aim in life was to become wiser. He thought the best way to achieve that was by finding someone wiser than him. He approached professionals in various fields, intending to learn from them. However, he quickly discovered that their knowledge was limited to their profession. They lacked wisdom on the broader metaphysical level but acted in a Dunning-Kruger-like way, confident yet, ignorant. [2]

Socrates claims that people consciously stunt their ability to grow both intellectually and philosophically when they take concepts such as “good” and “bad” as absolute truths without any inherent questioning. Yet, act as if they understand what it means. Worse, people do this unconsciously as well. For instance, if I ask you, "is the sun real?" Presumably, you will look upwards and respond, "of course it is." 

The issue with this response is that it would lead to a mind-boggling infinite regression problem where one proof must be backed by a sequence of other proofs. [3] Ultimately, leading to a point where there are no more proofs to back up the statement. For example, "how do you know that your vision of the sun is correct?" Because I can see other things that are real. But, "how do you know that your senses are real and not an illusion?" etc. This problem highlights the difficulty of being 100% certain if the given information is true.

It is convenient to nod one’s head and pretend to understand things. However, one must realize that the world is not that simple. Our perceptive view of the world is limited. But, one cannot advance without admitting to this fact. Now, I don’t think Socrates is advocating for a Cartesian-like skeptic position stumbling for truth. [4] Rather, I think he would claim that admitting ignorance is a great starting point in developing humility and intellectual maturity.

People like Einstein understood the scope of human ignorance early on and famously put it as "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe." [5] My goal in life is to be more like Socrates and Einstein. I aim to see through the illusionary-based explanations of the world we have placed forward by constantly questioning my beliefs and common sense. But first, I must admit to my ignorance. 

[1] Warburton, Nigel. Little History Of Philosophy. Yale University Press, 2014. 

[2] The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a particular field causes them to overestimate their competence. Alternatively, this effect also occurs when a person excels in a particular field but underestimates their abilities. 

I think using the Dunning-Kruger effect as an analogy to people ignorantly conflating their particular knowledge with wisdom does it justice. 

[3] The regression argument is a commonly adopted epistemological argument for skepticism. 

[4] René Descartes is the father of Cartesian skepticism, which advocates for doubting all beliefs and truths in order to determine which ones could be 100% true. He ended up discovering only one belief that is true and irrefutable: “I think; therefore I am.”

[5] Attributed to Albert Einstein in Robert Byrne, … 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (1990)

Thanks to Daniel Mansour and Amit Regev for reading drafts of this.