Socrates interviews a young Charmides to discern whether he possesses wisdom. But what is wisdom? Wisdom is self-knowledge and is the essence of knowledge. Since wisdom concerns knowledge, it must be a science. But what is the subject of this science? Apparently, it is the science of itself, the science of other sciences, and the science of the absence of science.
Wisdom is unique among the sciences because other sciences are about things other than themselves. For example, architecture is the science of building design, not the science of architecture itself. This distinction suggests that we cannot treat wisdom as we do other sciences.
Whether such a science is possible is a question left for future inquiry. Even if such a science exists, we must ask whether it benefits us and thus deserves to be called wisdom, since wisdom ought to be advantageous. Wisdom, understood as self-knowledge, cannot itself teach other sciences, so it offers no direct advantage there. The only possible benefit is that, by knowing what we know and do not know, wisdom might make it easier to learn other sciences. Beyond that, it’s doubtful that Charmides will gain any advantage in life from having wisdom
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