Thinker · Independent
Socrates
c.470 – 399 BC · Independent · The Greeks
He wrote not one word, founded no school, and left no doctrine anyone can pin down. And yet he is the hinge of the whole story, the man who took philosophy off the question of what the world is made of and fixed it forever onto the question of how a person should live. Everything we know about him reaches us through three people who couldn't agree on who he was.
What changed
Before
Philosophy asks what the cosmos is made of, and whoever argues best, wins
After
Philosophy asks how a person should live, and the first job is to admit one doesn't know
Inside the walk-through
The man who wrote nothing
The method — how to take an answer apart
The wisest man in Greece knows nothing
Nobody does wrong on purpose
The trial
The death, and the three roads out