Socrates

Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) was a philosopher of ancient Athens, regarded as a founder of Western moral philosophy. He wrote nothing; his life and teaching are known chiefly through his students Plato and Xenophon. He served Athens as a soldier with notable courage. When the oracle at Delphi declared that no one was wiser than he, Socrates questioned citizens reputed to be wise and concluded that his own wisdom lay in recognizing what he did not know. His patient questioning, now called the Socratic method, sought clear understanding of justice, courage and virtue, and he taught that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” In 399 BC he was tried on charges of impiety and corrupting the young and sentenced to death; declining an offer of escape, he accepted the verdict calmly, holding that one must never answer wrong with wrong.