Sophie's World

by Jostein Gaarder

neither diamond nor spade. Socrates was this joker in Athens. He was neither certain nor indifferent. All he knew was that he knew nothing—and it troubled him. So he became a philosopher—someone who does not give up but tirelessly pursues his quest for truth. An Athenian is said to have asked the oracle at Delphi who the wisest man in Athens was. The oracle answered that Socrates of all mortals was the wisest. When Socrates heard this he was astounded, to put it mildly. (He must have laughed, Sophie!) He went straight to the person in the city whom he, and everyone else, thought was excessively wise. But when it turned out that this person was unable to give Socrates satisfactory answers to his questions, Socrates realized that the oracle had been right. Socrates felt that it was necessary to establish a solid foundation for our knowledge. He believed that

when her mother came staggering in with two huge

Age. The reason, naturally, was its unique location. The elevated plateau was easy to defend against

we can never have true knowledge of anything that is in a constant state of change.