D.+Socrates



Socrates was born in Athens in 470 BC to his father Sophroniscus and Phaenarete. In his youth he was taught in gymnastics and music. As he grew older, he became familiar with geometry and astronomy and studied the methods and doctrines of the leaders of Greek thought and culture. He began his life as a sculptor and was successful, but soon he quit creating art and gave himself to what may best be called education, conceiving that he had a divine commission, witnessed by oracles, dreams and signs, not indeed to teach any positive doctrine, but to convict men of ignorance mistaking itself for knowledge, and by so doing to promote their intellectual and moral improvement. (20-20 Site: Overview of Socrates’ Life).

Socrates became the world’s first philosopher and discussed with his followers the ideas of ethics, inductive reasoning and rationalism. He would challenge his students to think about various concepts on a deeper level and question how things of the world work and not accept what religion or traditional beliefs included (CALS: Socrates). He was the first to really question the world and he wasn’t satisfied with the traditional answers and wanted to find the answer by logic and reasoning. Socrates was accused of going against the gods of the time and creating a new society. He was so infuriated with the prosecutors and how they did not see in his new way of thinking. Rather than giving in and admitting he was wrong, Socrates stood up for his beliefs. This decision would lead to his death of drinking hemlock in 399 BC. Socrates was a bold man who strove for more logical answers and didn’t stand down when confronted, and by this he is known as the father of philosophy.