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According to Plato in the dialogue called Apology (which means "Defense"), Socrates became a philosopher because he doubted the oracle at Delphi (a holy site of the God, Apollo) when the orcale claimed that Socrates was the wisest man in Greece. Socrates says that he didn't believe this at all, so he began talking to people who had reputations for wisdom. What he discovered was that they weren't as wise as they thought; in fact, they often didn't know what they were talking about--so Socrates came to the conclusion that he, Socrates, was actually the wisest man only because of this: he at least realized that he wasn't wise.

You can read this part of the dialogue yourself and see what else you notice--just search for the word "oracle" after you follow the link (listed below under Sources and Related Links.

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