The only thing I know is that I do not know anything.

3 points that will help you understand, use and not abuse this famous saying by Socrates

1. When did he say it and why?
Socrates heard the oracle in Delphi has announced him as the most wise person in the world. Socrates was intrigued. On one hand he believed that he was not wise. On the other hand he did not want to believe that God that put those words in the mouth of the oracle could be mistaken.

In order to find the truth he started visiting people of various expertise that were considered wise to find out what was different and what wisdom is. He got disappointed and the only viable conclusion for him was that nobody is wise.

Therefore he also concluded for himself that the only thing he knows is that he does not know anything.

2. Was Socrates and atheist?
Socrates was accused to be an atheist. But he was not. Just before drinking the poison he asked the servant that brought it to him:

“…What say you to making a
libation from this draught ? May I, or not ?
We only prepare so much as we think sufficient,
Socrates, he answered. I understand, said
Socrates. But I suppose that I may, and must,
pray to the gods that my journey hence may be
prosperous : that is my prayer ; be it so…”

In his apology he explains that his quest for finding wisdom and concluding that he does not know anything was due to God’s truthfulness:

“…When I heard of the oracle I began to reflect :
What can God mean by this dark saying ? I
know very well that I am not wise, even in the
smallest degree. Then what can he mean by
saying that I am the wisest of men ? It can-
not be that he is speaking falsely, for he is a
god and cannot lie…”

Finally when he could not conclude that anybody is wise he tried to interpret the words of the oracle in the following way:

“…But, my friends, I believe that only
God is really wise : and that by this oracle
he meant that men’s wisdom is worth little
or nothing. I do not think that he meant
that Socrates was wise. He only made use of
my name, and took me as an example, as
though he would say to men, ‘ He among you
is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that in
very truth his wisdom is worth nothing at all…”

Was his saying a form of preaching “agnosticism” or reaching a state of a mind that does not know anything?
Socrates liked the dialectic method. This started from a statement someone was making to him such as “Killing a person is a bad thing” and then he would ask questions such as “What if this person was coming to you with a knife and you had no choice?” that would force the other to refine his initial belief. He believed that through this process that heavily involved reasoning he and his students would reach a better and “wiser” truth.

But in order for this to happen the student had to start from a point willing to accept that he does not know anything and therefore he is open to let go of his initial state of wisdom to reach a better one.

He was not at any point implying that one should stop at the “don’t know” state or try different paths that did not involve reason to reach the absolute truth.

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