Socrates

Socrates.

This article is about the classical Greek philosopher.

Socrates ( Σωκράτης )

Socrates

Full name Socrates ( Σωκράτης )

Born c. 469 / 470 BC

Deme Alopece, Athens

Died 399 BC (age approx. 71)

Athens

Era-Ancient philosophy

Region Western Philosophy

School -Classical Greek

Main interests- Epistemology , ethics

Notable ideas-Socratic method , Socratic irony

Influenced by

Most subsequent Western philosophy ; more specifically, Plato , Aristotle , Aristippus , Antisthenes

Part of a series on

Socrates

" I know that I know nothing "

Social gadfly · Trial of Socrates

Eponymous concepts

Socratic dialogue · Socratic method

Socratic questioning · Socratic paradox

Socratic problem

Disciples

Plato · Xenophon

Antisthenes · Aristippus

Related topics

Cynics · Cyrenaics · Platonism

Stoicism · The Cloud

Socrates ( / ˈ s ɒ k r ə t iː z / ; Greek : Σωκράτης , Ancient Greek pronunciation: [sɔːkrátɛːs] , Sōkrátēs ; c. 469 BC – 399 BC) was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher . Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy , he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon , and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes . Manywould claim that Plato's dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. 

Through his portrayal in Plato 's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics , and it is this Platonic Socrates who also lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method , or elenchus . The latter remains a commonly used tool in awide range of discussions, and is atype of pedagogy in which a series of questions are asked notonly to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issueat hand. It is Plato's Socrates that also made important and lasting contributions to the fields of epistemology and logic , and theinfluence of his ideas and approach remains strong in providing a foundation for much western philosophy that followed.

As one recent commentator has put it, Plato, the idealist, offers"an idol, a master figure, for philosophy. A Saint, a prophet of the 'Sun-God', a teacher condemned for his teachings as a heretic."