Plato, Alcibiades 1, section 117d

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[117d] whether the tiller should be moved inwards or outwards,¹ and in your ignorance bewilder yourself, or would you entrust it to the helmsman, and be quiet?

Alcibiades
I would leave it to him.

Socrates
So you are not bewildered about what you do not know, so long as you know that you do not know?

Alcibiades
It seems I am not,

Socrates
Then do you note that mistakes in action also are due to this ignorance of thinking one knows when one does not?

Alcibiades
Here again, how do you mean?

Socrates
We set about acting, I suppose, when we think we know what we are doing?

1 The “tiller” was the handle of an oar at the side of the stern, and was moved towards or away from the center of the ship.

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 8 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1955.

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