oriented....................

 

      When it comes to the purpose of the Socratic method, Socrates had colossal ambitions.  He believed that all of the trouble we have leading our lives, all of our dissatisfactions, all of our failures to progress, all of our moral imperfections, all of the injustices we commit, large and small, stem from one source: ignorance.   Socrates' claim that "I know that I know nothing" isn't an empty gesture of skepticism, but rather a plan for life.  It tells you that the key to success, whether you are navigating difficulties in your marriage, your terror at the prospect of death, or the politicized minefield of social media, is to have the right kind of conversations.  Given that we cannot lead lives based on knowledge—because we lack it—we should lead the second-best kind of life, namely, the one oriented toward knowledge.

-Agnes Callard, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Live