Socrates

Socrates is often considered the founder of Western philosophy. He developed the Socratic method — a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue that stimulates critical thinking. He wrote nothing himself; his ideas survive through the works of his students, particularly Plato.

Socrates believed that the pursuit of knowledge was the highest virtue and that an unexamined life was not worth living. He was sentenced to death by the Athenian court for impiety and corrupting the youth, choosing to drink hemlock rather than flee into exile.