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"I know one thing, that I know nothing" (Ancient Greek: ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα hèn oîda hóti oudèn oîda; Latin: scio me nihil scire or scio me nescire) is a well-known saying that is derived from Plato's account of the Greek philosopher Socrates. This saying is also connected and/or conflated with a contemporary Pythian oracular answer "Socrates" to the question "who is the wisest man in Greece?".
The saying, though widely attributed to Plato's Socrates in both ancient and modern times, actually occurs nowhere in Plato's works.[1] One Plato scholar has argued that the "paradoxical formulation is a clear misreading of Plato."[2]
However, in Apology, Plato relates that:[3]
[…] οὖτος μὲν οἴεταί τι εἰδέναι οὐκ εἰδώς, ἐγὼ δέ, ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ οἶδα, οὐδὲ οἴμαι
– This man, on one hand, believes that he knows something, while not knowing [anything]. On the other hand, I – equally ignorant – do not believe [that I know anything].
The impreciseness of the paraphrase of this as "I know that I know nothing" stems from the fact that the author is not saying that he does not know anything but means instead that one cannot know anything with absolute certainty but can feel confident about certain things.[4]
Chaerephon, a friend of Socrates asked Pythia, The Oracle of Delphi : "Is anyone wiser than Socrates?". The answer was: "No human is wiser". Socrates tried to find someone who is wiser than himself, since he denied any knowledge, among politicians, poets, and craftsmen. It appeared that politicians claimed wisdom without knowledge; poets could touch people with their words, but did not know their meaning; and craftsmen could claim knowledge only in specific and narrow fields. The interpretation of Oracle's answer might be Socrates awareness of his own ignorance.[5]
Socrates also deals with this phrase in Plato's dialogue Meno when he says:[6]
καὶ νῦν περὶ ἀρετῆς ὃ ἔστιν ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ οἶδα, σὺ μέντοι ἴσως πρότερον μὲν ᾔδησθα πρὶν ἐμοῦ ἅψασθαι, νῦν μέντοι ὅμοιος εἶ οὐκ εἰδότι.
– So now I do not know what virtue is; perhaps you knew before you contacted me, but now you are certainly like one who does not know. (trans. G.M.A. Grube)
Here, Socrates aims at the change of Meno's opinion, who was a firm believer in his own opinion and whose claim to knowledge Socrates had disproved.
It is essentially the question that begins "post-socratic" Western philosophy. Socrates begins all wisdom with wondering, thus one must begin with admitting one's ignorance.