Philosophy & Thought

The thinkers who asked the big questions and invented Western philosophy

The Great Philosophers

Socrates

470–399 BCE

The father of Western philosophy, Socrates never wrote a word. Instead, he engaged Athenians in relentless questioning — the Socratic method — to expose assumptions and pursue truth. He believed that wisdom begins with acknowledging one's own ignorance. His uncompromising integrity led to his trial and execution on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth.

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

Plato

428–348 BCE

A student of Socrates, Plato founded the Academy in Athens — the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. His dialogues explore justice, beauty, knowledge, and the ideal state. Plato's Theory of Forms posits that the physical world is a shadow of a higher, perfect reality.

"The measure of a man is what he does with power."

Aristotle

384–322 BCE

A student of Plato and tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle was a polymath who wrote on physics, biology, ethics, politics, poetry, and logic. His empiricist approach — observing the natural world — laid the groundwork for the scientific method. His work dominated Western thought for nearly two millennia.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Schools of Thought

Stoicism

Founded by Zeno of Citium, Stoicism taught that virtue is the highest good and that we should accept what we cannot control with calm rationality.

Epicureanism

Epicurus taught that the purpose of life is to attain tranquillity through modest pleasures and freedom from fear — especially fear of the gods and death.

Cynicism

Diogenes of Sinope rejected social conventions, living in extreme simplicity to demonstrate that happiness comes from self-sufficiency and virtue.