a greek philosopher from athens lived from 500 to 400 bc. he was the one who turned nature-oriented philosophy into human-oriented philosophy. before his time, philosophy was being done to understand nature. so, the main purpose of philosophy was to find out the first cause of the world. but it is obvious that humanity or its interests came into prominence in socrates' philosophy.
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socrates believed that the only true wisdom is the knowledge of one's own ignorance. he believed that he was the "wisest" person because, unlike others who claimed to know things that they did not truly understand, he was aware of his own ignorance and was constantly seeking knowledge and understanding.
socrates believed that by acknowledging his own ignorance, he was better able to question and challenge the beliefs of others, and thus more likely to discover true wisdom. this idea is known as the socratic paradox.
in his famous apology, socrates says "i am conscious that i am not wise at all. what is probably happening is that those who meet me take me to be wise because i really do differ from the majority of mankind in that i do not think that i know what i do not know."
so in summary, socrates believed that he was the most wise because of his awareness and acknowledgement of his own ignorance, and his constant questioning and pursuit of knowledge.
