Socrates, classical Greek philosopher and credited “founder”, and David Henry Thoreau,
author, poet, philosopher, etc. are two very different people but yet very similar as well.
Socrates works by trying to find inconsistencies and contradictions in our claims which is
similar to Thoreau. If ever they were to have a conversation about living an excellent life
they most definitely bring up wisdom through knowledge, moral guidelines, and of course
the whole unexamined life that Socrates speaks about.
Both Socrates and Thoreau have their own opinion’s on what wisdom or knowledge is. In
Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, we find that most people lack wisdom because they spend
their lives following superficial pursuits based on materialism and custom, “The mass of
men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Such individuals are never truly wise, according to
Thoreau, because they never actually experience reality, like those depicted in the allegory
of the cave. Thoreau would go on to say that we mistakenly assume that the forms of life
and relationships implied by the economic terminology that surrounds us are the ways
things must necessarily be but, we have to revalue value and use economy rather than have
economy use us. Socrates on the other hand would be saying that in order for one to be
wise, they must know that they don’t know everything. Wisdom is knowing that you don’t
know what you don’t know. For example, in Plato’s Euthyphro, Socrates argues with
Euthyphro knows all, especially holiness. Euthyphro believes that holiness, “is an art
which gods and men have of doing business with one another.” All Socrates does is
