Socrates was a classical Athenian philosopher.
The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece ( 508 -- 322 BC ) was the major urban center of the notable polis ( city-state ) of the same name , located in Attica , Greece , leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League . Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras . This system remained remarkably stable , and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years , until 322 BC ( aftermath of Lamian War ) . The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC , known as the Age of Pericles . In the classical period , Athens was a center for the arts , learning and philosophy , home of Plato 's Akademia and Aristotle 's Lyceum , Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates , Pericles , Sophocles , and many other prominent philosophers , writers and politicians of the ancient world . It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization , and the birthplace of democracy , largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then-known European continent . Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years ( 5th and 4th centuries BC ) in Greek culture . This Classical period saw the annexation of much of modern-day Greece by the Persian Empire and its subsequent independence . Classical Greece had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and on the foundations of western civilization . Much of modern Western politics , artistic thought ( architecture , sculpture ) , scientific thought , theatre , literature , and philosophy derives from this period of Greek history . In the context of the art , architecture , and culture of Ancient Greece , the Classical period , sometimes called the Hellenic period , corresponds to most of the 5th and 4th centuries BC ( the most common dates being the fall of the last Athenian tyrant in 510 BC and the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC ) . The Classical period in this sense follows the Archaic period and is in turn succeeded by the Hellenistic period . Philosophy ( from Greek φιλοσοφία , philosophia , literally `` love of wisdom '' ) is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence , knowledge , values , reason , mind , and language . From the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century , `` natural philosophy '' encompassed astronomy , medicine and physics . Socrates ( [ ˈsɒkrətiːz ] Σωκράτης [ - grcsɔːkrátɛːs ] , Sōkrátēs ; 470/469 -- 399 BC ) was a classical Greek ( Athenian ) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy . He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers , especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes . Plato 's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity , though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is `` hidden behind his ` best disciple ' , Plato '' . Through his portrayal in Plato 's dialogues , Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics , and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method , or elenchus . The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions , and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers , but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand . Plato 's Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of epistemology , and his ideologies and approach have proven a strong foundation for much Western philosophy that has followed . Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western world . Historically , the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture , beginning with Hellenic ( i.e. Greek ) philosophy of the Pre-Socratics such as Thales ( c. 624 -- c. 546 BC ) and Pythagoras ( c. 570 -- c. 495 BC ) , and eventually covering a large area of the globe . The word philosophy itself originated from the Hellenic : philosophia , literally , `` the love of wisdom '' ( φιλεῖν philein , `` to love '' and σοφία sophia , `` wisdom '' ) . The scope of philosophy in the ancient understanding , and the writings of ( at least some of ) the ancient philosophers , were all intellectual endeavors . This included the problems of philosophy as they are understood today ; but it also included many other disciplines , such as pure mathematics and natural sciences such as physics , astronomy , and biology ( Aristotle , for example , wrote on all of these topics . )