Quotables
Socrates - the founder of Western philosophy
Period: 470 BC-399 BC in Athens, Greece
No documented work. Philosopher Plato and histories Xenophon were his pupils. The works of Plato, Xenophon, and other authors who use the character of Socrates as an investigative tool, are written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and his interlocutors and provide the main source of information on Socrates's life and thought.
Socratic dialogues was a term coined by Aristotle to describe this newly formed literary genre. He underwent a trial for impiety and the corruption of the young that lasted for only a day. He died, in accordance with his sentence, after drinking poison hemlock. He had never left Athens, except during the military campaigns like Battle of Potidaea (432 BC) where Athenians fought against Corinthians.
Socratic method: Socrates initiates the dialogue by asking his interlocutor for a definition of the subject, then Socrates asks more questions where the answers of the interlocutor become at odds with his first definition, with the conclusion that the opinion of the expert was wrong in the first place. The interlocutor may come up with a different definition which again is placed under the scrutiny of Socrates's questions, with each round and repetition hoping to approach the truth more closely but more often revealing their ignorance on the matter.
Quotes:
I know that I know nothing.
An un-examined life is not worth living.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates