Socrates

Socrates revolutionized, in fact practically invented, the science of philosoph!.
             y. His work proved to be the major turning point in separating philosophy from other sciences. It has been said that science is what we think we know, and philosophy is what we are sure we don't know. Socrates searched for answers by asking questions of people who had a definite stance on a certain view. Using what later came to be called the Socratic method, he asked a question, then took the opposing stance and asked simple questions that challenged the original definite claim his counterpart claimed. Using reason, Socrates could infer truths and undermine any statement. This method of questioning searched for definitions of "universal truths" and turned philosophy from the study of how actions are viewed by the majority into how our mind's preconceived notions affect our views on right and wrong. Rather than asking, "How do I live a better life?", Socrates would search for what it was in man that caused actions, rather than find environmental factors that shape the!.
             way society views a good life. His constant questioning of so-called truths proved to be as harmful to his existence as it was beneficial to his studies. Socrates began to make a mark on the world that couldn't be overshadowed, even by his death. His devotion to beliefs was put to the test in 399 B.C. when a panel of citizens convicted him of impiety and sentenced him to death. His death was an attempt to erase his ideas from the minds of individuals daring enough to question the structure of an acceptable life, and to discourage anyone from continuing his work. He serves as history's first martyr for philosophy, refusing to abandon his principles to save his own life. His student, Plato, is one of the only links between our world and the work of Socrates.
             His Life.
             Socrates was born in 470 B.C., in Athens, Greece. His mother, Phaenarete, was a midwife.