In the marketplace of Athens, an old man in a plain cloak stopped people and asked them questions. "What is courage?" "What is justice?" Whatever they answered, he asked another question, until they saw they did not know as much as they thought. His name was Socrates, and he said that wisdom begins with knowing what you don't know.
Key idea
Socrates wrote nothing down; we know him from Plato's books. Plato started a school in Athens called the Academy. Aristotle studied animals, plants, the stars, poetry and government, and wrote books on all of them. Another Greek, Archimedes of Syracuse, worked out how levers and floating things work.
Alexander the Great became king of Macedonia at 20, in 336 BC. In just over ten years he conquered the Persian Empire and marched as far as India. He founded cities named Alexandria; the one in Egypt became a great center of learning with a famous library. He died at 32, and his empire split among his generals, but Greek language and ideas spread across the lands he had crossed.
Worked example: Who taught whom?
- The chain goes Socrates → Plato → Aristotle → Alexander.
- The one before Aristotle is Plato; the one after is Alexander.
Answer: Plato taught him; Alexander was his student.
Common mistake
Try it at home
- Play Socrates. Ask a family member, "What makes someone a good friend?" To each answer, ask a new "why" or "what about" question.
- Afterward, write down the best answer you found together. Did the questions help you think more clearly?