influences of socratic philosophy on western civilization

WESTERN CIVILIZATION In today's modern world, much of our own culture's beliefs and morals are directly due to the impact of Socratic philosophy on European thinkers, and therefore our own in the western world. This philosophy, was based upon the thoughts of Socrates, who was an Athenian philosopher and possibly the most enigmatic figure in the entire history of philosophy. To begin, after about 450 B.C., Athens was considered the cultural center of the Greek …

…Lasting impressions of Socrates' issues include in a sense, questions which the philosopher himself posed. Mankind is faced with a number of difficult questions, for which their are no satisfactory answers to. Using human reason, or rationalism, humans should be able to separate right from wrong. Therefore, can a happy life be led if one continually does things that deep down he or she knows are wrong? Socratic philosophy insists that this is not so.