Socrates said the very first thing that has to happen for any true knowledge to

be gained and to truly be educated was the admission of ignorance. And that's

one of the hardest things for any of us to admit that we are ignorant about

anything. But Socrates said once the person admits that he or she is ignorant,

now the possibility is open to lead them to a deeper understanding of truth.

Even if you've never taken a course in philosophy before, many people are

somewhat familiar with the name Socrates, and perhaps also what is known as the

Socratic method of dialogue or discovering truth that he developed. Welcome to

the Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind, I'm Nathan W. Bingham. Today,

RC Sproul introduces to Socrates, his view of education, and set the context of

what life in Athens was like for Socrates, a society that shares many

parallels with our day. Here's Dr. Sproul. In the 19th century, one of the most

important philosophers in Europe was Soren Kirchegard, and though we're not

going to be looking at Kirchegard today, I just want to mention in passing that

he was known affectionately as the Danish Godfly. That little expression

Godfly refers to somebody that kind of stirs the pot by flittering around from

group to group, engaging people in serious discussions and thought. Well, the first

philosopher in history that was known as a Godfly was Socrates. Socrates was

called the Godfly of Athens because of the controversy in which he was

engaged by trying to provoke people to think more deeply than they were

accustomed to doing. Socrates is famous for initiating the phrase, the

unexamined life is not worth living. And his passion was to get people to do

...