Socrates
- Socrates focused on influencing the field of philosophy by his series of questioning.
- Modern versions of this make up the Socratic Process, Socratic Method, and Socratic Circle
- Main ideas:
- People should never stop looking for knowledge
- People should ask questions about life
- "The unexamined life is not worth living"
Plato
- Plato's "Theory of Forms" compared the ideal vs. the real
- Founded The Academy, a school in Athens devoted to philosophy
- Main ideas:
- Wrote many philosophical works:
- The Republic
- Phaedo
- The Symposium
- Gorgias
Aristotle
- Aristotle began the Peripatetic school of philosophy in Ancient Greece, which focused on the following topics:
- Logic
- Ethics
- Philosophical inquiry
- Metaphysics
- Psychology
- Inspired Greek scientists
- Believed the best government was ruled by a strong and virtuous leader