Godly and Human Wisdom in "The Apology" by Plato

Paper Summary:

Through an examination and analysis of a quotation taken from "The Apology, regarding the argument Socrates made at the time of his trial for corrupting the youth, this paper attempts to explain what Socrates meant by 'human wisdom'. The paper tells us that Socrates believed that only God knows what wisdom is and that the wisest people are those that realize that wisdom is useless.

From the Paper:

"The real meaning behind this text, as will be argued in this study, reveals that Socrates was making sarcastic irony to the court that was judging him. The oracle was asked if Socrates was the wisest man in the world, and it claimed that he was. Socrates ultimately did not believe that he was wise at all, and actually knew very little, as we can presuppose he thought of his accusers. This then is Socrates' "human wisdom": He does not have the belief that he knows things, which he doesn't know. Socrates says he is wiser than other people only in this respect. We can argue that he does not have the false conceit of impressive knowledge, which the court claims erroneously to have over him."

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