Portrait of Socrates, a Roman copy from a Greek statue, Louvre museum
Socrates (470 BC – 399 BC) was one of the most famous Greekphilosophers. He did not propose any specific knowledge or policy. He showed how argument, debate, and discussion could help men to understand difficult issues. Most of the issues he dealt with were only political on the surface. Underneath, they were moral questions about how life should be lived. Socrates had so much influence that philosophers before him are called the Presocratic philosophers.