Socrates - Know Nothing

A classical marble bust of Socrates with the words Know Nothing resting directly on top of his head, as if the thought had just landed there. It is the shortest possible summary of Socratic philosophy – the wisest man in Athens earned the title by admitting how little he knew. Understated, a little deadpan, and still the strongest opening move in any argument.

Not in those words. The phrase is a later paraphrase, often given in Latin as scio me nihil scire. In Plato's Apology (21d) Socrates says something subtler – that unlike others, he does not think he knows what he does not know. His wisdom lies not in knowing nothing at all, but in being honest about the limits of his knowledge.

According to Plato's Apology, Socrates' friend Chaerephon asked the oracle at Delphi whether anyone was wiser than Socrates, and the priestess answered that no one was. Puzzled, Socrates questioned politicians, poets and craftsmen and found that they believed they knew things they did not. He concluded that his only advantage was knowing that he did not know – what is now called Socratic ignorance.

The Socratic method, or elenchus, is a way of testing ideas by asking questions. Socrates asks someone to define a concept such as courage or justice, then draws out consequences until the definition contradicts itself. The aim is not to win but to expose false certainty and move closer to the truth together. It is still used in law schools, classrooms and therapy.

In 399 BC Socrates was tried in Athens on charges of impiety – not recognising the city's gods and introducing new divinities – and of corrupting the young. A jury of around 500 citizens found him guilty and sentenced him to death. He refused to escape and drank hemlock in prison, as Plato describes in the Phaedo. Many historians also see political resentment behind the trial.

Socrates says it at his trial in Plato's Apology (38a), explaining why he will not stop philosophising even to save his life. A life lived on autopilot, never questioning one's beliefs, values and choices, is in his view not a fully human life. The sentence is often quoted as a call to self-reflection – which is exactly what a shirt saying Know Nothing quietly invites.

No. Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) left no writings of his own. We know him through others – above all through the dialogues of his student Plato, through Xenophon's memoirs, and through Aristophanes' comedy The Clouds (423 BC), which mocks him. Separating the historical Socrates from Plato's literary character is known as the Socratic problem.

Yes – it suits philosophy students before their first seminar, teachers, lawyers who love a good cross-examination and anyone who enjoys intellectual humility with a wink. The design is available as a classic unisex T-shirt, a women's T-shirt, a sweatshirt, a premium hoodie, a mug and a sticker, so it fits the lecture hall, the office and the desk.