"To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the true meaning of knowledge." When he says stuff like that, I lean into the thought that he is very willing to undermine his seeming surety about abstraction and categories. He contradicts himself purposefully. I like to believe he does this so that we get practice in watching conclusions crumble. I like to belive that he suggests we cant rest in any category or abstraction because they always fall short. Wisdom depends this. Aporia is the natural conclusion of a truthful appraisal of categories.
I don't trust my conclusion entirely because I want it to be true. But such is life!
Thanks Kevin! The 'knowing that you know nothing' interpretation of Socrates is fascinating, though I couldn't find that exact quote in the dialogues. The closest might be in the Apology, where Socrates realizes that his wisdom consists in knowing he knows nothing, while others think they know what they don't know. I wrote about that here: https://www.bryankam.com/p/some-dangerous-methods?utm_source=substack&utm_content=feed%3Arecommended%3Acopy_link
You raise a good point about aporia (philosophical puzzlement) in the dialogues. In works like Plato's Parmenides, Socrates does seem to systematically dismantle opposing positions, potentially suggesting that rigid categories always fall short. However, I see two issues with this reading: First, to even engage in this dismantling, we have to accept abstract categories like 'being' and 'the one' — categories that I regard as problematic from the start. Second, in my experience, the resulting aporia feels less like productive openness and more like conceptual frustration.
In my view, wisdom doesn't primarily come from wrestling with conceptual categories, but from direct experience — though we may use language to share that wisdom after an experience. I appreciate you pushing me to engage more deeply with different interpretations!
Agreed, there is something very deadening about abstraction, and I enjoyed your contrast between Plato and Plato's Atlantis. I'll be on the Nietsche/ McQueen team! McQueen created such unforgettable, idiosyncratic images. And whilst they had symbolic resonance, the direction was very much from the particular to the general.
I love this and would love to talk about it more! I totally agree and love how possible it is to critique such a titan as plato - that's when you know you're somewhere interesting, so nice work! So I don't forget, the things I wanna talk about are love not as an experience but as a lens, and the idea that classification is necessary for meaning making. Awesome post! loved the energy too
This post is terrific. I particularly enjoyed "If I were to try to give a general account of love, my own description would not begin with “survives logical cross-examination"".
"To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the true meaning of knowledge." When he says stuff like that, I lean into the thought that he is very willing to undermine his seeming surety about abstraction and categories. He contradicts himself purposefully. I like to believe he does this so that we get practice in watching conclusions crumble. I like to belive that he suggests we cant rest in any category or abstraction because they always fall short. Wisdom depends this. Aporia is the natural conclusion of a truthful appraisal of categories.
I don't trust my conclusion entirely because I want it to be true. But such is life!
Thanks Kevin! The 'knowing that you know nothing' interpretation of Socrates is fascinating, though I couldn't find that exact quote in the dialogues. The closest might be in the Apology, where Socrates realizes that his wisdom consists in knowing he knows nothing, while others think they know what they don't know. I wrote about that here: https://www.bryankam.com/p/some-dangerous-methods?utm_source=substack&utm_content=feed%3Arecommended%3Acopy_link
You raise a good point about aporia (philosophical puzzlement) in the dialogues. In works like Plato's Parmenides, Socrates does seem to systematically dismantle opposing positions, potentially suggesting that rigid categories always fall short. However, I see two issues with this reading: First, to even engage in this dismantling, we have to accept abstract categories like 'being' and 'the one' — categories that I regard as problematic from the start. Second, in my experience, the resulting aporia feels less like productive openness and more like conceptual frustration.
In my view, wisdom doesn't primarily come from wrestling with conceptual categories, but from direct experience — though we may use language to share that wisdom after an experience. I appreciate you pushing me to engage more deeply with different interpretations!
Agreed, there is something very deadening about abstraction, and I enjoyed your contrast between Plato and Plato's Atlantis. I'll be on the Nietsche/ McQueen team! McQueen created such unforgettable, idiosyncratic images. And whilst they had symbolic resonance, the direction was very much from the particular to the general.
I love this and would love to talk about it more! I totally agree and love how possible it is to critique such a titan as plato - that's when you know you're somewhere interesting, so nice work! So I don't forget, the things I wanna talk about are love not as an experience but as a lens, and the idea that classification is necessary for meaning making. Awesome post! loved the energy too
This post is terrific. I particularly enjoyed "If I were to try to give a general account of love, my own description would not begin with “survives logical cross-examination"".