Ancient · c. 470–399 BC
Who influenced Socrates?
Influences and legacy
Wrote nothing, questioned everyone, and died for it — philosophy turns on his example.
Socrates was influenced by Anaxagoras, Aspasia and Prodicus, and went on to influence Antisthenes, Aristippus, Xenophon, Plato, Diogenes of Sinope and Søren Kierkegaard. That is 9 lines of the 448 documented lines of influence between the 279 thinkers on this map.
Read on Wikipedia Portrait: Copy of Lysippos (?), Public domain See the whole map
Who was Socrates?
Socrates wrote nothing. He is known through the dialogues of his students Plato and Xenophon, where he questions others about a subject until both sides reach an impasse; this style of questioning gave us the Socratic method and Socratic irony. He often said that he was sure only of his own ignorance. Because the ancient accounts contradict each other, rebuilding his real views is nearly impossible, the so-called Socratic problem.
In 399 BC Athens charged him with impiety and corrupting the youth. After a one-day trial he was sentenced to death and, as Plato tells it, took the poison rather than accept his friends' offers to help him escape. He remains a model for later philosophers, from the Renaissance humanists to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
Summarized from the lead of the Wikipedia article.
Who influenced Socrates?
3 direct influences on this map, earliest first.
- Anaxagoras c. 500–428 BC
- Aspasia c. 470–400 BC
- Prodicus c. 465–395 BC
Who did Socrates influence?
6 thinkers on this map draw directly on Socrates.
- Antisthenes c. 446–366 BC
- Aristippus c. 435–356 BC
- Xenophon c. 430–354 BC
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
- Diogenes of Sinope c. 404–323 BC
- Søren Kierkegaard 1813–1855
The line of teachers behind Socrates
The longest documented line of influence ending at Socrates runs 3 generations back, to Thales of Miletus.
Two steps away from Socrates
Indirect influences
- Through Anaxagoras: Anaximenes of Miletus
The second generation
- Through Plato: Aristotle, Cicero, Philo of Alexandria, Plotinus, Augustine of Hippo, Marsilio Ficino, Arthur Schopenhauer, Simone Weil
- Through Søren Kierkegaard: Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jean-Paul Sartre
- Through Diogenes of Sinope: Crates of Thebes, Zeno of Citium
- Through Aristippus: Epicurus
Contemporaries of Socrates
Thinkers on this map born within 25 years of Socrates, with no direct line between them.
- Philolaus c. 470–385 BC
- Democritus c. 460–370 BC
- Gorgias c. 485–380 BC
- Protagoras c. 490–420 BC
- Empedocles c. 494–434 BC
- Zeno of Elea c. 495–430 BC
Socrates by the numbers
- Direct influences
- 3
- Direct followers
- 6 — #14 of 279 on this map
- Thinkers upstream
- 5
- Thinkers downstream
- 214
- Wikipedia languages
- 205 — #4 of 54 among ancient philosophers
- Card rarity
- Legendary
Questions about Socrates
- Who influenced Socrates?
- Anaxagoras, Aspasia and Prodicus.
- Who did Socrates influence?
- Antisthenes, Aristippus, Xenophon, Plato, Diogenes of Sinope and Søren Kierkegaard.
- When did Socrates live?
- c. 470–399 BC. The map files Socrates under the ancient world.
- How rare is the Socrates card?
- Wikipedia carries an article on Socrates in 205 languages, which makes it a Legendary card. Legendary starts at 100 languages, Epic at 50 and Rare at 25.
More ancient philosophers
- Confucius 551–479 BC
- Aristotle 384–322 BC
- Plato c. 428–348 BC
- Pythagoras c. 570–495 BC
- Laozi c. 6th c. BC
- Cicero 106–43 BC
- Thales of Miletus c. 624–546 BC
- Marcus Aurelius AD 121–180