Wisest, is he who knows he does not know.?

Question

this is, of course, one of the famous quotes written by Aristotle. I have not completely grasped it yet no matter how simple it appears to be. I come to you, for help.

thank you.

Answer 1

If you do know everything, you can still learn.

- FrederickHF

Answer 2

In my opinion, Michael's answer is The  correct answer.

Next, for me, wisest is he who knows he has found his true Path/Way and knows that he knows it, and is grateful to God for His blessing.

Answer 3

Lao Tzu believed the same thing.  So it appears they were on to something.  In his case, though, he meant it as a way of saying that "knowing" was based on material things, and granted you may know much about Politics, economy, history, ect, these are all human inventions, and not the truth of existence as a whole.  Therefore, one who discarded the idea of knowledge of society will be known as "stupid" or a "fool" but that person will in fact be the wisest, being at one with nature.

Answer 4

It means that true wisdom is knowing that you do not know everything. people who appear to know everything are the first ones to be proven wrong.

Answer 5

i am going to say the same thing the first person said. the people who think they know everything are often the ones who rush into decisions and often come out looking stupid.

*sorry, first person if i sound verbatim of your idea. had to get the points. lol

Answer 6

It means that the more you acknowledge that you're ignorant the more you will learn.

Answer 7

If the doubt is the beginning of the knowledgement, then you must admit you don't know anything so that, you are able to adquire knowledge.

Answer 8

"Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, [shuts up] is counted wise."

To be wise, a person has to understand that there is more to be known than any one man can ever grasp. Knowing that you are ignorant is the first step to wisdom (wisdom and knowledge are not the same thing).

Answer 9

I read in Thoreau's "Walden" that Confucius said that.

Answer 10

its means ( in my opinion ) that the wisest is someone who knows that he doesnt know everything. Hope that makes sense :)

Answer 11

What you have written above is actually a misquotation of Socrates, rather than a quotation of Aristotle's.  The correct quotation is from Plato's Apology (Defence of his own life and activity) where Socrates  says, quote (according to Plato who was at the trial):

SOCRATES:

At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think I know what I do not know.

That quotation occurs at Plato's Apology 21d.  Socrates's overall conclusion after examining many people who thought they knew what they did not know, was, quote:

SOCRATES:

"But the truth of the matter (Socrates's investigations), gentlemen, is pretty certainly this, that real wisdom is the property of God and this oracle is his way of telling us that human wisdom is of little or no value.  It seems to me that he is not literally referring to Socrates, but merely has taken my name as an example as if he would say to us: "The wisest of you men is he who has realized, like Socrates, that in respect of wisdom, he is really worthless."

That quotation occurs at Plato's Apology 23b and is very close to your quotation, except that Socrates's actual statement refers to wisdom rather than to knowledge.

So notice 3 different terms, which may help you understand Socrates's meaning.  The terms, generally speaking, are (1) wisdom, (2) knowledge and (a term you don't mention above, but which Socrates did mention) (3) thinking.

Socrates never thinks that he knows, what he does not know.  That, to Socrates, is the most egregious form of ignorance because, first, an error has to be refuted and, then, that "egregiously" ignorant person may learn some actual knowledge.  But that doesn't make him wise, because, for example, knowing mathematics doesn't make one "wise" or even "knowledgable" about politics or poetry.

In Socrates's investigations, he did find people who KNEW MANY FINE THINGS which he did not know.  Those people were the craftsmen he interviewed.  To that extent they were WISER than Socrates, about what they knew.  But they had almost the same failing as the politicians and poets he interviewed.  They thought that just because they were knowledgable and wise about their occupations and crafts, that made them also knowledgable and wise about things which they did not know.

So your quotation above would actually be closer to what Socrates actually argued if you wrote something like:

Wisest is he who thinks he knows what he knows and never thinks he knows what he does not know.

But remember that thinking, knowledge and wisdom are not the same things.  At least they aren't according to SOCRATES.

To Aristotle, in contrast, truly knowledgable people not only KNOW things and FACTS, they also know the causes of those things and facts.  Aristotle lived about 80 years after Socrates.  And both philosophy (pursuit of wisdom) and science (knowledge) really "took off" from Socrates's insights, especially in Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum.

Just think of the Wright Brothers who invented powered flight.  People had been trying "to fly" for centuries prior to the Wright Brothers, and had done so in both balloons and with gliders.  But when those American brothers finally invented POWERED FLIGHT with motors and a fixed wing aircraft (around 1903; not sure), it only took about 60 some years to reach the moon with a powered flight vehicle (around 1969).  You can check the actual dates of the Wright Brothers first flight to the first landing on the moon.  Pretty amazing eh?

The same thing happened with the science of thinking (LOGIC) from Socrates through Plato to Aristotle.  That science, too, developed almost as quickly from Socrates through to Aristotle, as "flying machines" developed quickly from the Wright brothers through to the Apollo missions.

We have the same phenomenon in computing science as well.  From the first digital electronic computing devices to your own computer, the developments and improvements have been even faster than the development of Socrates's thinking into Logic and the Wright brothers' first flying machine into rocket ships.

Kevin

Answer 12

The only thing of which I am certain is my uncertainty. It is a paradox, which is why it is difficult to comprehend. Wise men know that nothing can be known categorically.