Socrates
Athenian dialectic founder
Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher of Athens (c. 470–399 BCE), foundational to Western philosophy.
He left no writings; his ideas survive through dialogues written by his student Plato.
The Socratic method—teaching through probing questions rather than lectures—bears his name.
Condemned to death for corrupting Athenian youth and impiety, he drank hemlock rather than flee.
A Socrates may describe any persistent questioner or philosophical gadfly.
Claim someone did wrong
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- impietyIrreverence toward the divine
- youthState of being immature
- defenseProtection against harm
jury · verdict · hemlock · execution · prison · death · martyr · principle
Logical argument through opposition
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- cross-examinationOpposing party questions witness
- refutationDisproving a statement
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
inquiry · examination · probing · midwifery · eliciting · perplexity · contradiction · definition
Moral goodness or merit
- justiceFair treatment under law
- goodnessMoral excellence
- pietySincere religious devotion
- areteSharp glacial ridge
temperance · courage · wisdom · soul · excellence · moral · examined life · self-knowledge
Greece's capital city
- agoraGreek civic square
- GreeceBalkan peninsula nation
- PlatoGreek philosopher, academy founder
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
Pericles · Peloponnesian War · democracy · oracle · Delphi · Athenian · Acropolis · classical
Greek philosopher, academy founder
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
- StoicismVirtue-centered ancient philosophy
- CynicismPhilosophy rejecting material desires
- DiogenesFounder of Cynicism
Academy · philosophy · Western thought · influence · tradition · method · irony · intellectual
accusation
Claim someone did wrong
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- impietyIrreverence toward the divine
- youthState of being immature
defense · jury · verdict · hemlock · execution · prison · death · martyr · principle · conscience
dialectic
Logical argument through opposition
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- cross-examinationOpposing party questions witness
- refutationDisproving a statement
irony · inquiry · examination · probing · midwifery · eliciting · perplexity · contradiction · definition · hypothesis
virtue
Moral goodness or merit
arete · temperance · courage · wisdom · soul · excellence · moral · examined life · self-knowledge · know thyself
Athens
Greece's capital city
Aristotle · Pericles · Peloponnesian War · democracy · oracle · Delphi · Athenian · Acropolis · classical · ancient
Plato
Greek philosopher, academy founder
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
- StoicismVirtue-centered ancient philosophy
- CynicismPhilosophy rejecting material desires
Diogenes · Academy · philosophy · Western thought · influence · tradition · method · irony · intellectual · thinker
Plato
Greek philosopher, academy founder
- SymposiumFormal academic conference
- RepublicState without monarchy
- interlocutorOne who converses
- GreeceAcropolis, Parthenon, Athens, Greek, Hellenic
- Greek cultureGreece, Greek mythology, Greek history, Greek cuisine, Greek gods
- thinkersthinkers, thinker, philosophers, philosopher, Aristotle
- Ancient GreekGreek alphabet, Greek vocabulary, ancient Greek, Homer, Plato
- Greek conceptslogos, ethos, pathos, hubris, arete
- Greek philosophyAristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Academy, ethics
SocratesAristotle
Greek founder of formal logic
Thomas Aquinas · Hegel · Spinoza · dogmatist · systematizers
Socratesdogmatist
One holding fixed beliefs
know-it-all · Pythagoras · gnostic · prophet · wise man
- Socratic methodTeaching by strategic questioning
- Socratic ironyFeigned ignorance revealing flaws
- Socratic questioningInquiry through persistent questioning
- Socratic dialogueInquiry through successive questions
- trial of SocratesLegal proceeding against ancient philosopher