Week 17 · western

Socrates

Socrates never wrote a single word. He wore the same cloak year-round and walked barefoot through Athens asking people uncomfortable questions about what they thought they knew. The city eventually executed him for it, and his students (especially Plato) spent their lives writing down what he'd said. Everything we know about Socrates comes from people who couldn't forget him.

“"I know that I know nothing." The most famous sentence in Western philosophy, and the most underestimated. It's not humility. It's a method. Once you truly don't know, you can finally start looking.”