Socrates

From RationalWiki

Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, Socrates (469-399BCE^[1]) is an enigmatic figure known only through other people's accounts. It is Plato's dialogues that have largely created today's impression of him.

The Socratic method (sometimes called Socratic irony) is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions are asked not only to draw individual answers, but to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand.

He was sentenced to death for "corrupting the young (i.e. getting them to think for themselves) asserting that the Greek myths were not literally true.

[edit] Sayings

"Know thyself."
"All I know is that I know nothing."
"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."
"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil."
"From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate."