Socrates
The barefoot gadfly of Athens who made philosophy a practice of relentless questioning rather than a body of doctrine.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Core ideas
- The unexamined life is not worth living
- Knowing that you do not know is the beginning of wisdom
- Virtue is knowledge: no one does wrong willingly
Historical context
Athens at its imperial height and in its wounded decline: war lost, plague survived, democracy twitchy about critics. Socrates' trial in 399 BCE made the cost of honest questioning permanent.
Key works
(Dialogues of Plato, as character)
Questions they speak to
Minds in conversation
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Socrates