Socrates’ legacy continued to shape the. He was condemned to death for his socratic method of questioning. 470 bce, athens—died 399 bce, athens), ancient greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a profound influence on ancient and modern.
Socrates turned dialectic into a new kind of contest (8), and because his instincts had turned against each other and were in anarchy (9), he established the rule of reason as a counter. Socrates wrote nothing himself, so all that is known about him is filtered through the writings of a few contemporaries and followers, most notably his student plato. Who socrates really was is fundamental to virtually any interpretation of the philosophical dialogues of plato because socrates is the dominant figure in most of plato’s.
Socrates was an ancient greek philosopher considered to be the main source of western thought. Socrates, greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a profound influence on ancient and modern philosophy. 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.