HOW WE WILL KNOW WHAT WE DON’T KNOW?

CONCEPT: As we go along our journey in life, there are

paths that enlighten our minds and open up our eyes to new
discoveries and lessons that teach us good morality and
judgement. With the unfamiliarity and mysteries that cloud
our minds, we unravel facts and continuously search for the
things that brought us into a puzzle. We want answers to
our questions; we want concrete evidences to something that
we know nothing of. Having a complete knowledge about a
certain thing is a great achievement in our part as a human
being. This conundrum is the seed of the cognizance that
continues to grow inside ourselves. This philosophical
paper will deliberate Socrates’ perspective about true
knowledge and it’s relation to the humans’ awareness about
what they really know and what they will know.

RATIONALE: Socrates’ philosophy about knowledge moved my

entire being. His statement, “The true knowledge exists in
knowing that you know nothing”, was absorbed by my own
intellect. There are a number of obstacles that prevent one
from attaining true knowledge. The greatest obstacle is
one’s conviction that he or she already has knowledge, even
if he or she does not. From Socrates’ perspective, people
often mistakenly believe that they have knowledge, when in
fact they hold only opinions. For Socrates, true knowledge
is unchanging and eternal truth inscribed within one’s
soul. Such truth belongs to the eternal spiritual world or
the world of immortals, in Socrates’ terminology. Opinions,
on the other hand, are changeable and offer only temporal
views, ideas, and mere beliefs. Knowing the truth or
possessing true knowledge is not the same thing as having
some additional information. Realization of the eternal
nature of truth or true knowledge is a process of becoming
aware of the eternal nature of the human soul. This
realization opens up one’s mind to a whole different world
of eternity. This turn of awareness also involves embracing
a different concept of reality. For Socrates, the world of
true knowledge or eternal truth is the real world. What is
sensible or what one can perceive with the five senses is
temporal, changing, and less real than the world of true
knowledge or eternal truth. This line of thought was fully
developed by his student, Plato. I consider his perspective
as a factual and convincing one because it deals with the
reality that we, people, is ignorance. We hold nothing but
opinions, and we don’t seek for an answer because we stick
on our poor reasoning and judgement. This is the truth that
beholds the genuinely seeking of knowledge to provide
realistic and authentic guidance on our own intellectual
being.

FRUIT: This philosophical paper will be an instrument of

realization and application to a human entity. This will
greatly influence their own perspective and will change
their way of life by challenging their own beliefs,
opinions and ideas. Human beings should be aware of their
ignorance and must take an action to prove what the truth
really is. This is the right way to improve one’s
knowledge, intellectual ability and opens the pathway to
the world of eternal reality. As Socrates said, one should
live an examined life and that is the one that is
considered as worth-living.