Socrates: The Legacy of a Philosophical Pioneer

Socrates, an Athenian philosopher from the second half of the fifth century BC, is one of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy, despite having never written any philosophical works. Born in 469 BC, Socrates hailed from a middle-class background. His father was reportedly a statesman, and it is possible that Socrates himself briefly practiced this craft. His life unfolded against the backdrop of a rapidly evolving Athens, which, during his childhood, transformed into a radical democracy. This political system was characterized by direct participation, where every adult male citizen was not only allowed but encouraged to engage in the governance of the city.

Socrates emerged as one of the most renowned citizens of Athens, often regarded as the mythic father and patron saint of philosophy. In his youth, he was a courageous and capable soldier, but his legacy was cemented through his profound philosophical inquiries. The two primary sources of our knowledge about Socrates come from his followers, Plato and Xenophon. Of the two, Plato's accounts have had a more enduring impact, largely due to Plato’s unparalleled genius and literary brilliance. Through Plato's dialogues, Socrates' ideas and methods were immortalized, influencing not only his contemporaries but the entire trajectory of Western thought.

Socrates is perhaps best known for his association with the Socratic method, a dialectical approach of question and answer designed to stimulate critical thinking and illuminate ideas. He famously professed his own ignorance, claiming that his wisdom lay in his awareness of his lack of knowledge. This humility in the pursuit of truth is encapsulated in his assertion that "the unexamined life is not worth living," a principle that has become a cornerstone of philosophical inquiry.

In 399 BC, Socrates was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. Despite opportunities to escape, he accepted his fate with unwavering integrity. Socrates spent his final day in prison, surrounded by friends and followers who pleaded with him to flee. However, true to his principles, he refused, choosing instead to honor the law of Athens, even in the face of an unjust verdict. The next morning, he calmly drank the poison hemlock, dying in accordance with his sentence.

Socrates' death marked the end of a life dedicated to the relentless pursuit of truth, but it also marked the beginning of his enduring influence on philosophy, particularly through the works of his disciple, Plato. His life and death continue to inspire generations of thinkers, underscoring the profound impact of a single individual’s commitment to intellectual integrity.
Socrates: The Legacy of a Philosophical Pioneer

Anaxagoras (c.500 BC – c.428 BC)

Anaxagoras was born in the city of Clazomenae in Asia Minor, during the seventh Olympiad (between 500-497 or 533 BC). He was descendant of an aristocratic noble family. His father Hegesibulus (Ηγησίβουλος), was intellectual and introduced his son to Anaximenes’ philosophy.

Anaxagoras was the first of the pre-Socratic philosophers, who visited Athens in 494 BC, transmitting there the richness and the originallity of Ionian School of philosophy. As a philosopher he taught Archelaus of Athens, Euripides the tragedian, and the demagogue Pericles with whom he remained a friend. He remained a resident of the city of Athens for at least thirty years.

According to Anaxagoras, the Mind (nous) is infinite and self-powered. Mind is the supreme principle, the greatest power, that is mixed with nothing but it exists alone itself by itself, whereas all other entities include a portion of everything.Mind is the purest of all entities, with a unique authenticity.

It is said that Anaxagoras was the first philosopher who elevated spirit above matter, whereby he started a new era in theology, which is not an isolated opinion since, e.g., Eusebius says that

Anaxagoras and his school were the first in Greece that talked about God. Anaxagoras was the author of a lost work On nature. The work was written in a beautiful and sublime style. As Plato and others relate, it was well-known and popular in Athens in the fifth century BC. Socrates knew the work well. Certain fragments and the major ideas of the work have been passed on by ancient philosophers and doxographers: Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, Aetius, Hippolytus, and Simplicius.

In Lampsakos during his last years, Anaxagoras is supposed to have said that the Athenians missed him more than he missed them. He died in 428 BCE, much honored by the Lampsakenes.
Anaxagoras (500 BCE – 428 BCE)

Antisthenes (444 BC- 365 BC)

Antisthenes was Greek philosopher and a disciple of Socrates. He was the son of an Athenian citizen, also name Antisthenes; his mother was a Thracian slave. Because both parents were not Athenian citizens, Antisthenes was not entitled to citizenship under a law passed by Pericles in 451 BC and he could not take part in Athenian politics or hold office.

He probably attended the Cynosarges gymnasium, located outside the gates of Athens and reserved for children of illegitimate unions.

Antisthenes, who was influence by Socrates, is considered the founder of Cynicism. Plato records that Antisthenes was one of the close friends of Socrates who attended him during his excretion.

Cynicism characterized by an ostentatious contempt for riches, arts, science and amusement. They are called Cynics because of their morose manners.

Socrates taught that a virtue was the highest good. Antisthenes taught that virtue was the only good and that vice is the only evil.

The essence of virtue is self-control or absolute freedom from all material needs. Thus the Cynics renounce the basic joy of life: pleasure, comfort, family, society and religion.

Antisthenes was among the first to set some sort of permanent school at Athens. Antisthenes established himself in a public building - the Cynosarges gymnasium – an attracted a group of students.
Antisthenes (444 BC- 365 BC)

Ephorus of Cyme

Ephorus (400 BC – 320 BC) was a major historian of the 4th century BC who came from Cyme in Aeolis (Asia Minor).

Though born in the Anatolian city of Cyme, he studied at Athens under Isocrates and in fact the surviving fragments and that part of the text of Diodorus Siculus that is based on Ephorus own works are all preserve an unmistakable Isocratean flavor.

Ephorus also seems to share Isocrates’ pro-Athenian bias and his yearning for unity among the Greek cities.

His principle work was the Histories completed with a 30th book added by his son Demophilus, who edited the entire work. It began with the return of the Heracleidae to Peloponnesus and ended with siege of Perinthus (340) by Philip II of Macedonia, with a further extension in the 30th book that centered on the Second Sacred War of 335-46.

He also wrote a local history of Cyme, a book on style and a book on discoveries. Ephorus was highly regarded in antiquity and his account became the standard account for many historical periods. All his works are lost, but the Histories was an important source for other historians, notably Diodorus Siculus.

Ephorus was the first historian to divide his work into books, to each of which he wrote a preface and he treated his material under subject headings rather than chronologically. He died in the 320 BC.
Ephorus of Cyme

Thucydides of Athens

Thucydides was an Athenian historian who lived in the second half of the fifth century BC. Born about 460 BC, he was an unabashed admirer of Pericles and his political and imperial policies.

His father, Olorus, related to a king of Thrace whose daughter, Hegesipyle, married Miltiades, who led Athens to victory against Persian in the battle of Marathon (490 BC).

Early in the Peloponnesian War, in 430 Thucydides caught the deadly plague that was sweeping through Athens.  Unlike many Athens, he survived.

By 424 BC he had been elected as one of the Athen’s 10 annual generals. While serving in the north Aegean, he had the misfortune to find himself pitted against Spartan commander Brasidas, from capturing the Athenian colony of Amphipolis.

For this failure Thucydides was banished by the Athenians assembly and lived away for 20 years returning only when the exiles were recalled in 404 BC after Athen’s final defeat.

During his stay in Thrace, he spent much of his time travelling in the Peloponnesian regions. Due to his aristocratic roots and his status as an Athenian exile Thucydides was able to speak to many of the war’s major participants.

His History of the Peloponnesian War is a literary and scientific classic. His description of the annual solar eclipse of Athens on August 3, 431 BC, is the first detailed description of an eclipse.

According to later writer Thucydides was married and had children.  Apparently he died only a few years after his return to Athens.
Thucydides of Athens

Xenophon

Xenophon, the son of Gryllus, and Athenian citizen was a native of the Attic demus Ercheia.

Xenophon was born about 444 BC. He distinguished himself as a philosopher, a general and an historian. Xenophon came from and aristocratic family and was born a citizen of the cultural center of the Greek world.
He was a good family and moderate estate, and became in youth a pupil of Socrates. Xenophon took down notes of Socrates talk, which he afterward wrote out in Memorabilia of Socrates.

He left Greece after the Peloponnesian War to become one of 10,000 Greek mercenaries in the service of Cyrus the younger against his older brother King Artaxerses II of Persia.

His writings including:
*Anabasis
*Hellenika
*Memorabilia
*Symposium
*Apology
*Kyropaideia
*Agesilaus
*On hunting
Xenophon eventually became the commander of all forces under King Seuthes II of Thrace in fighting against Persia during 400-399.

Sparta gave him land and property in Scillus, where he lived for many years before having to move once more, to settle in Corinth. Xenophon died sometime e after 354 BC.
Xenophon

Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)

Socrates was born in 469 BC. He belonged to the middle class: he is said to have been the son of a statesman and he may himself have practiced the craft.

During his childhood Athens developed into what scholars call a ‘radical democracy’, a direct participatory democracy in which all adult male citizens were allowed and encouraged to participate in government. 

Socrates was one of the famous citizens of Athens. He is the mythic father and patron saint of philosophy. He had been brave and competent solider in his youth.

The two major sources of Socrates, Plato and Xenophon. Socrates had the great good fortune that one of his followers, Plato, was one of the greatest genius and most brilliant writers of all time.

In the year 399 BC, officials in the city have charged Socrates with disrespect toward Greek gods, who are part of the religious and social heritage.

Socrates lived in Athens until he was sentenced to death by an Athenian jury and was executed by hemlock poisoning in 399 BC.
Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)

Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322), the great Greek Philosopher was born at Stagira, on the Strymonic Gulf, and hence called ‘the Stargirite.’

Aristotle was the son of Nicomachus, who traced back and his art to Machaon, son of Aesculapius, later became court physician to King Amyntas III of Macedon; his mother being Phaestis, a descendent of one of those who carried the colony from Chalcis to Stagira.

At the age of seventeen Aristotle to travels to Athens, the center of learning in the Greek world and there he became a pupil of the philosopher Plato for some twenty years. These two decades formed the first great phase of his intellectual career.

Later he made his way to the court of Philip II of Macedon where he became the principle tutor of young Alexander, soon to be conqueror of the world.

In 335 Aristotle founded his own school at the Lyceum, a meeting place and gymnasium named in honor of the god Apollo Lyceus. He only emphasized natural science in his school and accepted only observations as the source of knowledge.

For the next 12 years he was occupied in the organization of the school as an abode for the prosecution of speculation and research in every department of inquiry, and in the composition of numerous courses of lectures ins scientific and philosophical question.

Aristotle had pondered a variety of beliefs bearing on the known universe; in his judgment, these were mostly myths.

One theory Aristotle attributed was that the sea was warmed and evaporated by the sun. The water vapor then cooled and fell as rain.

Aristotle died at the age of 62 at Chalcis in Euboea.
Aristotle

Plato (429 BC – 348 BC)

The pupil and biographer of Socrates, Plato was born at Aegina on the month of May in the year 429 BC. He was the son of Athenian family belonging to the Deme Kollytusm was both ancient and noble.

Plato was educated with care, his body was formed and invigorated with gymnastic exercise and his mind was cultivated and enlightened by the study of poetry and geometry.

It was about 20th year of Plato’s age that his acquaintance with Socrates began. Socrates at that time was considered by many to be wisest and most virtuous man in all Greece.

During eight years he continued to be one of the pupils of Socrates and after his death Plato retired from Athens, and began to travel over Greece.

Most of Plato’s ideas concerning the roles of the state are presented in what many consider to be his greatest work, the Republic, a work which is often credited with laying the foundation and paving the way for all subsequent political thought and discourse.

Plato founded one of the earliest known organized schools in Western Civilization in a plot of land in the Grove of Hecademus or Academus.
Plato (429 BC – 348 BC)