Socrates
SOCRATES (c. 469–399 BCE) was a Greek philosopher. Commonly regarded as the father of philosophy, Socrates' influence on Western thought has been huge throughout history. Almost every epoch saw in him a precursor of its own ideas and values, and a model of wisdom and morality.
Sources
Socrates is the only Western philosopher who wrote nothing. Hence all first-hand information on his life, personality, and thought derives from reports by those who knew him personally. Among those, a special role is played by his friends and associates who, in a series of dialogues commonly referred to as the Sokratikoi logoi, portray him in discussion with prominent intellectuals and politicians. These writings spread immediately after Socrates' death, becoming a popular literary genre in the first half of the fourth century BCE. Unfortunately, from a corpus of hundreds of conversations only those reported by Plato (428/427–348/347 BCE) and Xenophon (430–355 BCE) survive complete; the Socratic dialogues of other authors are lost except for some fragments. The most substantial of these fragments are from Aeschines of Sphettus; the fragments of Antisthenes, Aristippos, Euclides of Megara, and Phaedo of Elis are scarce.
Plato, the most important among Socrates' associates, wrote almost solely dialogues in which Socrates is the main speaker.
