Socrates, (born c. 470 bce, Athens [Greece]—died 399 bce, Athens), Greek philosopher whose way of life, character, and thought exerted a profound influence on ancient and modern philosophy.
Socrates was a widely recognized and controversial figure in his
native Athens, so much so that he was frequently mocked in the plays of
comic dramatists. (The Clouds of Aristophanes,
produced in 423, is the best-known example.) Although Socrates himself
wrote nothing, he is depicted in conversation in compositions by a small
circle of his admirers—Plato and Xenophon
first among them. He is portrayed in these works as a man of great
insight, integrity, self-mastery, and argumentative skill. The impact of
his life was all the greater because of the way in which it ended: at
age 70, he was brought to trial on a charge of impiety and sentenced to
death by poisoning (the poison probably being hemlock) by a jury of his fellow citizens. Plato’s Apology of Socrates purports to be the speech Socrates gave at his trial in response to the accusations made against him (Greek apologia
means “defense”). Its powerful advocacy of the examined life and its
condemnation of Athenian democracy have made it one of the central
documents of Western thought and culture."
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Trial of Socrates
The Window Philosophers
Stanford Wiki of Philosophy