Productive Ignorance

Socrates's most famous claim: "I know that I know nothing." This was not false modesty. He meant that recognizing your own ignorance is the prerequisite for learning. You cannot fill a cup that believes it is already full.

The Oracle at Delphi declared that no one was wiser than Socrates. He set out to disprove it by questioning politicians, poets, and craftsmen. Each claimed to know things they could not actually explain. Socrates concluded that he was wiser in one small way: he alone knew that he did not know.