philosophers

  • looked to science and logic (not the mythological gods) for explanations of how the world worked
  • the Socratic Method fostered critical thinking
  • “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
  • Socrates was charged with serious crimes
    • impiety (disrespecting the gods)
    • corrupting the youth of Athens
  • at his trial, he described himself as a stinging gadfly, and Athens as a lazy old horse
  • did not deny what he had done; asked for free dinners
  • found guilty by an Athenian jury, and sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock
    • Plato was a student and follower of Socrates
    • he wrote out Socrates’ teachings, and described his trial in Apology
    Republic was Socrates’ discussion of justice and the ideal state - one of the most influential books on philosophy ever written

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