Friday, January 2, 2026

In western Civilization (Europe) logic and Reason and systems of questioning everything began with Socrates

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Socrates
Philosopher
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Socrates - The Philosopher Who Knew He Knew Nothing ...
This man possessed the ability to eliminate ignorance and disseminate knowledge; may his principles be enshrined in the annals of human ...
Feb 20, 2024
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Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was ...
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What is Socrates best known for?
Socrates | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Socrates is best known for his radical questioning approach, the Socratic Method, which uses probing questions to stimulate critical thinking and reveal underlying assumptions, and for his famous assertion that "the unexamined life is not worth living". He emphasized ethics, virtue, and self-examination, shifting philosophy towards moral and human concerns, and famously claimed, "I know that I know nothing," highlighting the pursuit of wisdom through acknowledging ignorance. Though he wrote nothing, his ideas were preserved by his students, especially Plato, and he remains a foundational figure in Western philosophy.  
Wikipedia
Socrates | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Socrates (469—399 B.C.E.) Socrates is one of the few individuals whom one could say has so-shaped the cultural and intellectual de...
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Socrates | Biography, Philosophy, Method, Death, & Facts | Britannica
Nov 21, 2025 — Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the three greatest figures of the ancient period of Western philosop...
Britannica
Who was Socrates, and what is he most famous for in the history of philosophy?
Sep 5, 2023
Quora
Socrates - Life & Philosophy - History.com
Nov 9, 2009 — Viewed by many as the founding figure of Western philosophy, Socrates (469-399 B.C.) is at once the most exemplary and ...
History.com
Socrates | Research Starters - EBSCO
Socrates, a prominent figure in ancient Greek philosophy, is renowned for his unique approach to inquiry and moral questioning. He...
EBSCO
Socrates Biography - Exploros
He encouraged people to pursue justice and goodness rather than wealth and power. His ideas were radical at the time. Young men an...
Exploros
Who Was Socrates? A Look at the Philosopher’s Life and Impact
Oct 17, 2022 — Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher and scholar from Athens and a founding figure in the history of Western phil...
MasterClass
Who Was Socrates?
Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who lived from 469-399 B.C.. He is considered one of the wisest people of all time. S...
Columbia University
The Life of Socrates | OpenLearn - The Open University
It has been said that Socrates' greatest contribution to philosophy was to move intellectual pursuits away from the focus on 'phys...
The Open University
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What is Socrates' most famous saying?
5 Quotes by Socrates Explained | TheCollector
Socrates' most famous quote, encapsulating his philosophy, is "The unexamined life is not worth living," emphasizing self-reflection for true meaning, alongside his declaration of wisdom: "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing" (or "I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance"), highlighting intellectual humility and the start of real knowledge.  
Here are some of his key ideas in quote form:
  • On Self-Knowledge: "The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance". 

Socrates Quotes - BrainyQuote
Socrates. The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be. Socrates. All men's souls are immortal...
BrainyQuote
5 Quotes by Socrates Explained - TheCollector
Sep 18, 2025 — Here are five of his most enduring sayings and what they really mean. * “The Only True Wisdom Is in Knowing You Know ...
TheCollector
55 Socrates Quotes on Philosophy, Education and Life - Parade
Feb 12, 2024 — 55 Socrates Quotes * “To know, is to know that you know nothing. ... * “It is not living that matters, but living rig...
Parade
102 Socrates Quotes on Life & Happiness (WISDOM)
Dec 13, 2023 — Top 13 Most Famous Socrates Quotes to Inspire You The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. The unexamined ...
Gracious Quotes
'The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living' — Socrates | by Tania Miller
Dec 17, 2020 — “The unexamined life is not worth living” Socrates said as he declared the essence of a good life. “The only good is k...
Medium
What is the Socratic paradox?
The term Socratic paradox may refer to several seemingly paradoxical claims made by the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates: I know that I know nothing, a saying that is sometimes (somewhat inaccurately) attributed to Socrates. Socratic intellectualism, the view that nobody ever knowingly does wrong.
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Socrates | Biography, Philosophy, Method, Death, & Facts


Britannica
https://www.britannica.com › ... › Philosophers
Nov 21, 2025 — Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher, one of the three greatest figures of the ancient period of Western philosophy (the others were Plato and Aristotle)

Socrates (469—399 BCE)


Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
https://iep.utm.edu › socrates
He is best known for his association with the Socratic method of question and answer, his claim that he was ignorant (or aware of his own absence of knowledge),

Socrates - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy


Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
https://plato.stanford.edu › entries › socrates
by D Nails2005Cited by 129 — An enigma, an inscrutable individual who, despite having written nothing, is considered one of the handful of philosophers who forever changed how philosophy ...

Socrates - Philosophers


Biography
https://www.biography.com › ... › Philosophers
Aug 8, 2023 — Socrates was a scholar, teacher and philosopher born in ancient Greece. His Socratic method laid the groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy.
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Why Plato Begins with Everyone
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Ralston College · YouTube
Savannah-based liberal arts college
The animated back and forth known as the Socratic method is at the heart of many law school classes. Professors pose questions to get lawyers-in-training to defend, reexamine, and refine their arguments. It’s named after the great but polarizing ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, famous for using his own probing questions to lead others to scrutinize their views on heady topics such as virtue, justice, and knowledge. But in 399 B.C., Socrates’ penchant for wordplay, his apparent rejection of Athenian gods, and the antidemocratic views of his students landed him in hot water. He was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth and was tried in the city’s agora, where a group of 501 jurors convicted him and sentenced him to death. Over the past twenty years, that trial has played out regularly in the classroom of Adriaan Lanni, a criminal law expert focused on ancient law, who asks students to craft compelling arguments for or against Socrates and, ultimately, decide his fate. For
2.3K+ likes · 3 days ago
harvardlaw · Instagram
Harvard University law school
What makes Socrates and Plato so special?
Popular comment · I think the issue here is that you are looking at Plato and Socrates from an historical standpoint that, all while being deeply indebted to their influence, is separated from their time by almost 2500 years. Your disappointment is similar to that of someone looking at a modern car and comparing it to an ancient horse-drawn carriage. The carriage is different, but is historically connected to the car. Before Socrates and Plato, you won't find any literature that engages fundamental concerns of human existence systematically and through rational arguments, i.e. through arguments that obey a certain logic and are targeted at conceptual clarity. There were the pre-Socratics, of course, but no extent pre-Socratic text comes close to the refined, well-constructed arguments found in the Platonic dialogues. The notions central to Western philosophy: mind, intellect, rationality, reason, concept (logos), being, etc. were all shaped in a profound way by Socrates's thought and by Plato's texts. We have naturally come to use terms such as "reason" and "mind" as if they were universally accepted philosophical categories, but they are results of a tradition that can be traced back, through Neoplatonism and Aristotle, to Plato and Socrates. The methodology of Western philosophy, to construct arguments rather than positing simple ideas, has its roots in Plato's dialogues and in the way that Socrates interacts with his interlocutors in the texts. It's not so much about establishing certain conclusive ideas than learning to distinguish the truth through conceptual distinction (diairesis) and dialectic. That's something that you won't find in any texts before Plato's dialogues. The Platonic Academy, the institution from which the idea of philosophical formation sprang, also goes back to Plato. Without Plato, there would perhaps be no universities in the Western world - or universities would look much different, and feature different disciplines. The Platonic Academy subsisted for almost 1000 years and shaped the way that philosophy is practiced through texts and teaching. One of the most influential ideas in Western philosophy is that the realm accessible to the senses is ontologically flawed and that there is a superior reality exempt of those flaws. This idea may seem obsolete or implausible today, but it is one of the ideas that shaped philosophy as a whole, from Plato, over Aristotle, over the Middle Ages, to German Idealism. That idea can also be traced back to Plato. Of course, Socratic and Platonic arguments resonate differently with our understanding than they did with people at ancient times. But they are the "material" from which Western philosophy was historically made up. Perhaps they don't appear as spectacular as more aggressive philosophers, such as Nietzsche's or Deleuze's, but they are undoubtedly special in that they brought together the elements that have come to constitute philosophy as such, in the Western understanding
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r/askphilosophy
Reddit
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Believe It Or Not, Socrates Was Not Very Likable
16.8K+ views · 4 weeks ago
Daily Stoic · YouTube
Stoic philosophy brand
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Socrates vs Gossip 🧠🚫
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Socrates And His View On Happiness - An Overview


pursuit-of-happiness.org
https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org › socrates
Socrates has a unique place in the history of happiness. Socrates was the first known figure to argue that happiness is obtainable through human effort.

Socrates' philosophical quote on New Year: 'The secret of ...


The Economic Times
https://m.economictimes.com › US › News
2 days ago — Socrates, a pivotal figure in ancient Greek philosophy, championed critical thinking through his unique questioning method.

The Trial of Socrates


Famous Trials
https://www.famous-trials.com › socrates
The trial and execution of Socrates in Athens in 399 B.C.E. puzzles historians. Why, in a society enjoying more freedom and democracy than any the world had ...
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  • Focus on Ethics & Virtue:
    Shifted philosophy from cosmology to ethics, focusing on justice, goodness, and the care of the soul. 
  • "The unexamined life is not worth living":
    A core belief that self-reflection is essential for a meaningful existence. 
  • "I know that I know nothing":
    His famous admission of ignorance, representing true wisdom as recognizing the limits of one's knowledge. 
  • Inspiration for Plato:
    Through Plato's dialogues, Socrates profoundly influenced the development of Western philosophy and the philosophical tradition of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. 
  • On Inquiry: "I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think". 
  • On Virtue: "Not life, but good life, is to be chiefly valued". 
  • On Happiness: "The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less". 
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