Socrates said that the only thing he knew was that he knew nothing. We’re all cleverer than Socrates now. We all know what he didn’t know. Politicians know how to get the economy growing again (which we all know to be a good thing) and the economists know why it all went wrong in the first place; the health experts know what we have to eat to stay healthy, and the gym instructors know just the right amount of exercise we need; the Church knows what’s gone wrong with modern morality, and the atheists know that religion was a con anyway; evolutionary scientists know that we’re driven by our genes, and philosophers know it’s all much more complicated than that.
Well, that’s what’s great about liberal culture: we all have own opinions, things we know, and we try in open debate to convince everyone else. Right? No, not really. For a start, you don’t know, and neither do I: the history of thought shows that equally sensitive, reflective, intelligent people come to radically different views about – well, about pretty much everything. Human beings claim to know because it’s frightening not to know. We live with the myth that the educated mind is well stocked with opinions that it defends against all comers. Great fun, but more like boxing than thinking.
The philosophical sceptics, pre-eminently Montaigne, said that peace of mind involved, in part, not pretending to know what you don’t know. There’s less to get upset about if you admit you don’t know. So cultivate the spirit of scepticism. Learn to view your own opinions with urbane irony. There must be someone out there who can tell you how to do it. I don’t know.
Christopher Hamilton is author of Middle Age (part of the Acumen Art of Living series). He is Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Religion at Kings College London.
I don't know...this post just doesn't sound right to me...
Posted by: Al Fossdyke | September 10, 2011 at 12:20 PM
A great man once said, "If you don't have an opinion then you may as well be an empty chair." He should have kept his mouth shut as well.
Posted by: Drew Byrne | May 04, 2011 at 02:37 AM
If Socrates said that the only thing he knew was that he knew nothing, then he should have kept his mouth shut then. Then he would really have said something.
Posted by: Drew Byrne | May 04, 2011 at 02:31 AM
Wonderfully put!
Posted by: Christian | April 28, 2011 at 05:27 PM
I know one thing: that I don't know something; which must be a good thing to know at least.
Posted by: Drew Byrne | April 19, 2011 at 06:58 PM