Richard Feynman, a Nobel-winning physicist, gave a speech to National Science Teachers Association in 1966, in which he said that “science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.”

I admire how many quips he could come up with. And knowing how often Feyman is misquoted, I did some due diligence in ensuring that he actually said that.

If I could adapt his description of science into one about philosophy, I would say that philosophy is the belief in the ignorance of confident people.

I know that there are tons of confident philosophers out there, and I myself am asserting this confidently. But the fact that philosophers immediately distrust confident assertions gives me some confidence in asserting this one.

This is the spirit of Socrates’ behavior, as it is described in Plato’s Apology. Upon seeing priests confidently claim to know what’s holy and loved by the gods, and upon seeing military leaders claim to know what courage is, Socrates cross-examined them all, revealing just how little they actually know.

And I know that Plato himself confidently asserted tons of false things. I myself work predominantly on Plato’s science, which is filled with false claims that he asserted very confidently.

Not everyone will share this picture of philosophy, but this is the one that has captured my heart the most as I look at a society filled with so-called experts on, e.g., morality and the gods.