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Socrates (470-399)
One
of the
most influential of all Greek philosophers and scholars, Socrates was the son of a sculptor and
a midwife who is now regarded amongst the greatest philosophers of
Athens and as one of the wisest people of all time. Socrates teachings all come from the dialogues of his student prodigy Plato and the memoirs of Xenophon. He left no writings himself, but he is accredited for his method of reasoning known as the Socratic dialogue, or dialectic, in which he elicited knowledge from his students by pursuing a series of questions and examining the implications of their answers.
Socrates spent his days discussing virtue, justice, and piety, whenever the issues arose, in an effort to better himself and Athens in general. Socrates equated virtue with knowledge of one's true self, maintaining that no one knowingly does wrong. Socrates apparently believed in Meno -- the reincarnation of an eternal soul which contained all knowledge. We lose touch with that knowledge every time we are born, and in life we therefore need to be reminded of what we already know. He defined the soul as the seat of both waking consciousness and moral character, and held the universe to be purposively mind-ordered. In 399 B.C. Socrates was tried for corrupting the morals of Athenian youth and for religious heresies. He was convicted and willingly drank the cup of poison which took his life.
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europe/lecture1.html