Socrates

Socrates rarely indicated what he thought on any subject, but he did often enough to reconstruct his views. Usually, he attempted to determine what other people thought they knew and tried to convince them of how little they knew. He tried to make people think rather than telling them what to think. He did so mainly through the use of analogies that were readily understandable and by leading his listeners to contradict themselves. Honest people were grateful, and dishonest people hated him. Socrates believed he was fulfilling a mission imposed on him by Apollo; he was Apollo's messenger. Apollo's admonitions of Nothing Too Much and Know Thyself were Socrates's main advice: Moderation was the virtue most to be sought, and hubris was the vice most to be avoided. He made ethics preeminent in philosophy, and by doing so, he became the most influential philosopher. Read more