Two Words for the Wise

Wise men aver that man's highest calling has not changed since the day it was inscribed as a maxim on the temple of Apollo at Delphi:  Know Thyself.

The maxim was taken up by the Greeks long before Socrates, when identification with one's tribe naturally took precedence over individual liberty. To know thyself meant that a man should know his natural and social limits in order not to overstep them and be destroyed by pride. Many if not most us do not identify with our limits. Not even the sky suffices as a limit nowadays. We believe nothing is impossible, and would push the envelope as far as we might go, perhaps to the final frontier, where no man has gone before. Issues or problems are "merely" challenges or hurdles to modern man, who is so preoccupied with motion that he has trouble sitting still with chin in hand to ponder on the meaning of life.

On the other hand it was said of Socrates that "he brought philosophy down from the skies." The charge brought against him was tantamount to atheism: corrupting the youth for teaching the sciences of "what goes on in the heavens and beneath the earth." Socrates pointed out at the trial that adults had been conditioned since the time of their youth to the prejudice that, "There is a certain Socrates, a highbrow; brainy in skylore, has investigated what is under the earth, makes the weaker argument the stronger (i.e., is a Sophist or teacher)." He proceeded to rid his triers of  their inculcated prejudice, but that was impossible to accomplish in a day.

Of course the charges were politically motivated pretexts; an amnesty precluded the radical democrats from taking a more honest revenge on him. Socrates took the charges as they were and defended himself accordingly, pointing out, first of all, that the accusations were a pack of lies. His mission was a divine one: he had been called upon by the god of Delphi to be, in effect, a wise guy, using cross examination to put all those who pretended to be wise to shame for their unwisdom. That was no way to win many friends and influence powerful people in Athens. After quizzing a statesman, for example, Socrates said, "I am wiser than he is only by this trifle, that what I do not know I don't think I do." As for corrupting the youth, surely some victim would come forward at the trial to testify against him, but none did, and several of his old students were present.

To the charge of being a Sophist or professional teacher of persuasive arguments despite the truth at stake, Socrates answered, "I never was teacher to anyone." If people wanted to listen in on the cross examinations - and many did because they enjoyed them - they could; and they were also welcome to join in if they were so bold. Furthermore, Socrates did not charge a fee, hence Poverty was his best witness that he was not in fact a professional teacher. As for the charge that he did not believe in gods but introduced other spiritual things instead, he said the charge was absurd when reduced to, "Socrates is a criminal for not believing but believing in gods," and argued that he who believes in spiritual things believes in spirits, and he who believes in spirits believes in gods for spirits are sons of gods.

In truth Socrates had been enthusiastic about natural science before he took up the study of the ethical life. He was familiar with several sciences including astronomy. He was a practical idealist; utility was one of his foremost ideals. A good ideal should be capable of being put to good use.  He put the horse before the cart: once Good is known good can be done. He knew subjects such as geometry did humankind a great deal of good, but he saw little use in studying the distances and motions of the heavenly bodies. No doubt he would be impressed by the July 4, 2005 Deep Impact into a comet at 23,000 m.p.h. of a rocket launched from Earth, and with the utilitarian impact such experiments might have on saving life as we know it on our planet. Aristotle pointed out in his last books, later named the 'metaphysics', that the study of useless or impractical subjects are of first importance, and proceeded to  summarized the metaphysical speculations of the ancient scientists. But Socrates, no stranger to inductive logic, was called by the god to turn within to the subject of man and his moral conduct. Wherefore he abandoned natural science to be a philosopher in the etymological sense of the term: to love wisdom.

Socrates had a reputation for wisdom within his circle. His follower Chaerephon inquired at the oracle at Delphi if any man was wiser than Socrates; the Pythia replied that no man wiser than he. Socrates was rightfully skeptical of the finding; he did not believe he was wise. The oracle was famous for cryptic and superficial ambiguities which served to maintain Apollo's integrity in more ways than one. Given the dissension among the Greek tribes and factions, and the  occasional struggle over the administration of the sacred grounds and the treasure in the vaults, the priests at Delphi were reluctant to unduly offend any party, although they might subtly side with the stronger party to a violent conflict, even the Persians if need be. And if something went wrong for the inquirer who acted on the fortune told, as it often did, the fault was his own for misinterpreting the oracle. In any case, it was with the oracular pretext in mind that Socrates searched all walks of city life among reputable wise men for someone wiser than himself. He did not wish to prove the god Apollo a liar or less wise than he. That would be a grave impiety, for Apollo, in his late capacity as the Sun-god, is the all-seeing one; he is a god of intellect and reason among other things. Socrates wanted to ascertain the hidden meaning of the rendering, as if it were a riddle to be somehow solved.

"What can the god mean? What is his riddle? I know very well that I am not the least bit wise. What does he mean by saying that I am the wisest? He can't be lying: that would not be right for him."

We know the story: Socrates failed to find anyone wiser than himself, and he was the wiser for being wise to his own ignorance; at least in all humility he put up the pretense of ignorance - we can find out a great deal about others and ourselves by "acting stupid". And he acquitted himself of impiety by asserting that Apollo was wise in fact, and had merely used him as an example, as if to say that he who knows he is unwise, Socrates for example,  is the wisest. We think his reasoning is a tad sophistic or hair-splitting on the last point.

To Be Continued