Socratic schools

By Tsouna, Voula

For approximately one and a half centuries after Socrates’ death in 399 bc, several Greek philosophical schools and sects each claimed to be the true intellectual heirs ...

Cyrenaics

By Tsouna, Voula

The Cyrenaic school was a Greek philosophical school which flourished in the fourth and early third centuries bc. It took its name from the native city of ...

Ancient philosophy

By Sedley, David

The philosophy of the Greco-Roman world from the sixth century bc to the sixth century ad laid the foundations for all subsequent Western philosophy. Its greatest ...

Dialectical school

By Sedley, David

An offshoot of the Megarian school, and active c.350–250 bc, the Dialectical school was an important precursor of Stoic logic. Its leading members were Diodorus Cronus ...

Megarian school

By Sedley, David

The Megarians were a Greek ‘Socratic’ school of the fourth and early third centuries bc. After their founder Euclides, whose main doctrine was the unity of the ...

Socrates (469–399 BC)

By Cooper, John M.

Socrates, an Athenian Greek of the second half of the fifth century bc, wrote no philosophical works but was uniquely influential in the later history of philosophy. ...

Socrates (469–399 BC)

Socrates, an Athenian Greek of the second half of the fifth century bc, wrote no philosophical works but was uniquely influential in the later history of philosophy. ...

Aristippus the Elder (c.435–c.355 BC)

By Tsouna, Voula

Aristippus of Cyrene was a member of Socrates’ entourage who after Socrates’ death (399 bc) founded the Cyrenaic school. He was primarily interested in practical ethics. He ...

Antisthenes (c.445–c.365 BC)

By Schofield, Malcolm

Antisthenes was one of the most devoted followers of Socrates. As a young man he was heavily influenced by the display speeches of Gorgias the rhetorician and the ...

Cynics

By Branham, R. Bracht

Cynicism (originating in the mid-fourth century bc) was arguably the most original and influential branch of the Socratic tradition in antiquity, whether we consider its impact on ...