Socratic Wisdom: Real Knowledge Is Understanding The Extent of Your Own Ignorance
By: Thomas Oppong
Tags: Personal Growth, Learning, Wisdom, Philosophy, Self

Socratic Wisdom: Real Knowledge Is Understanding The Extent of Your Own Ignorance

Your mind is at mercy to what it is fed and is shaped through the lenses of your perceptions

Socrates famously said, “I know only one thing, that I know nothing”. He also once said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

The more I read, the more I discover my own blindspots and ignorance. The more I learn, the more I’m exposed to what I don’t know. ― Voltaire once said, “The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”

As your experience and knowledge increase across a range of topics, you may not feel any more knowledgeable. In fact, the people I dig deeper, the more I feel ignorant. That makes me want to know more, explore even further and improve my perceptions, narratives and assumptions.

Here’s a paradox worth understanding — as your circle of knowledge increases and your experience and knowledge expand, you feel as though your unknowns are increasing even though your knowns are also increasing. Confucius said around 500 B.C., “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”

“The wisdom paradox tells us that the more we’re exposed to thoughts, points of view, new situations, cultures, ideas, and facts, the more we appreciate just how ignorant we are and that the ways to see the world are virtually infinite,” writes Hélène Massicotte.

More often than not, our ignorance is invisible to us. The English philosopher Bertrand Russell once said, “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”

The brain is great at hiding our blind spots from us. We can easily deceive ourselves without knowing. The knowledge of that is the beginning of practical wisdom.

Richard Feynman, pre-eminent twentieth-century physicist and a Nobel laureate once said, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”

We often feel more confident about a skill or topic than we really should — we’re often unaware of our overconfidence. In psychology, this is known as the “Dunning-Kruger Effect” —our tendency to overestimate our own knowledge/skills/competence and underestimate our own ignorance.

People who are ignorant of their own ignorance predictably overestimate their knowledge and abilities in a way that causes more errors and mistakes in their thinking process and judgement.

“Their deficits leave them with a double burden — not only does their incomplete and misguided knowledge lead them to make mistakes but those exact same deficits also prevent them from recognizing when they are making mistakes and other people choosing more wisely,” writes David Dunning.

Many people tend to harbour many false beliefs about their own competence, character, and the future. Charles Darwin was right when he said, “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge…”

A lot of what we see and conclude about the world is often authored by our brains. “Within the brain, there are thousands of lower-level processes acting towards one goal — not truth or understanding but survival and energy conservation,” argues Christopher Cundari.

The Importance of Socratic ignorance

Your mind is at mercy to what it is fed and is shaped through the lenses of your perceptions. Your personal truth may not be objective. You can be wrong, even if you think you are an expert.

Once you keep that in mind, you can start thinking about how you might be wrong, question your basic narratives of the world or think about how another person might have a case. And you might want to hear them out.

People who are intellectually humble don't stop questioning their assumptions, world-views and perceptions. They stop assuming there’s an easy answer and ask more questions.

They listen more intently to fully appreciate and understand a point of view. They are comfortable exploring a difficult topic, knowing full well they might never get to the bottom of it.

Our knowledge is always incomplete. It either contains errors or the world has moved on. What once was true, now might not be. It’s our responsibility to consistently upgrade our narratives and perceptions.

I’ve learned to appreciate this level of awareness and the paradox of both wisdom and ignorance because it means that curiosity will always make me want to explore more, learn better and dig deeper. As Socrates says “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”

Always assume you don’t completely understand something. It will foster humility and create more opportunities to learn.

“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as an astronaut: to value the wisdom of humility, as well as the sense of perspective it gives you, ” writes Chris Hadfield, in his book, “An Astronaut’s Guide To Life On Earth”.

Intellectually humble people always strive to maintain a sceptical attitude — they make time to improve their minds by other people’s discoveries, ideas, experiences and thoughts.

To avoid confirmation bias (the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values), seek ideas, facts or opinions contrary to your own.

When Charles Darwin was conducting his life-long research for “The Origins of Species”, anytime something went against his prior beliefs, he didn’t ignore it but instead paid extra attention to it. Darwin’s work “On The Origin of Species” has revolutionised our view of life on earth.

Knowledge of your own ignorance can help you understand the limits of your knowledge. It is in recognising our own blind spots that we can find better ways to fix our unconscious biases, overcome our ignorance and make better decisions. And finally, remember, the path that leads to your wisdom is

a pretty good path to your enlightenment.