Plato's Oracle: Socrates' Definition of Superhuman Wisdom
Socrates claims that Oracle does not possess a certain kind of "superhuman" wisdom(e.g. at 20e).
What would someone with superhuman wisdom know, and how would the knowledge manifest itself?
Is Socrates’ claim that he does not possess this sort of wisdom coherent with his behavior in the Euthyphro?
Socrates made a clear distinction between “superhuman wisdom” and “human wisdom” (20e). "Superhuman” wisdom, which Socrates claimed that he does not possess, means one's certainty about important concepts and the absolutely perfect knowledge of things. In other words, Socrates’ “superhuman wisdom” means having infallible knowledge.
To deny Oracle’s statement that nobody is wiser than Socrates, Socrates tried to seek others that are wiser than him. He went to a politician, poet, and craftsman, but all of them fell short to prove that they are wiser than Socrates because they only have the wisdom that enable them to do their works. When it comes to explaining their works, they could not do any better than other people(21b-23a). Therefore, according to Socrates, someone with “superhuman wisdom” would know how to explain things instead of only knowing what the things are.
Knowing the criteria that help to recognize things does not mean that a person can define the thing and understand what makes the thing the thing. Politician, poets, and craftsmen have great knowledge of their fields of work, which make them think that they are the wisest and know about other things such as piety and justice(22e). But in fact, they even don’t know the truth that Socrates knows—"he’s truly worthless where wisdom’s concerned(23a).”
We can see Socrates’ claim that he does not possess the “superhuman wisdom” coherent with his behavior in the Euthyphro. He refuted Euthyphro’s definitions of piety but did not give a definition. He only pointed out the contradictory part of Euthyphro’s claims by his knowledge of knowing what is pious and what is not. He didn’t explain what the pious is and what made the pious the pious. Socrates doesn’t think that anyone besides gods can possess “superhuman wisdom” because he failed to find others who are wiser than him. So, even when he does not possess the “superhuman wisdom”, how could anybody possess it(23a)?
-- Answers, written by Heidi, April2019; Ancient Greek Philosophy