Of Doubt, Gadflies and Minimalists

The gentle philosopher Socrates casts a towering shadow over Western thought. He accounted himself the least knowledgeable of men—one of his most famous sayings states, “All I know is that I know nothing.” But his awareness of his ignorance made him the wisest of men. In the early dialogues of his disciple Plato, Socrates is shown wandering about Athens interrogating men who seemed to have substantial knowledge of ethics, religion, justice or philosophy. He asks questions designed to point out the rickety foundations of these men’s supposed knowledge, imploring them to think of firmer foundations for such knowledge. In […]