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There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

Socrates, as reported by Diogenes Laertius

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Diogenes Laertius records this saying in his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, a collection of biographies written in the 3rd century AD, some six hundred years after Socrates died, so it is tradition rather than a transcript. It sums up what is now called the Socratic paradox: no one does wrong knowingly, because anyone who truly understood what is good would choose it. Wrongdoing, on this view, is a failure of understanding, which is why Socrates spent his life questioning people rather than lecturing them.

Türkçe oku
Tek bir iyi vardır: bilgi. Tek bir kötü vardır: cehalet.
Sokrates, Diogenes Laertios'un aktarımıyla

Bu sözü, MS 3. yüzyılda yazılmış bir filozof biyografileri derlemesi olan Diogenes Laertios'un Ünlü Filozofların Yaşamları ve Öğretileri aktarır. Kitap Sokrates'in ölümünden yaklaşık altı yüz yıl sonra yazıldığı için söz, bir tutanak değil, kuşaktan kuşağa aktarılmış bir gelenektir. Bugün Sokratik paradoks denen düşünceyi özetler: Kimse bilerek kötülük yapmaz, çünkü iyiyi gerçekten anlayan onu seçer. Bu bakışa göre kötülük bir anlayış eksikliğidir; Sokrates'in ömrünü insanlara öğüt vermek yerine onlara soru sormakla geçirmesi de bundandır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Socrates
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