The Golden Age of Athens

In Greece, fifth-century BC was a time and place of extraordinary success, economic growth, and global power. Indeed it is now referred as being the Golden Age in the cities of Greece, especially Athens. This period lasted from around 500 to 350 BC, at this point, the cities were flowering both intellectually and culturally. Also, significant changes were made during these years; this includes changes in the fields of art, architecture, government and literature. Many important names contributed to this period, but the focus here will be Socrates for his philosophy, Sophocles as one of the three great tragedians and Pericles in the area of politics.

Philosophy in ancient Greece was one of the most important intellectual studies. During the period of the Golden Age, there was a great amount of prosperity in the area of philosophy, and there was an uncountable amount of famous philosophers. Nonetheless, the three philosophers that were and still are considered the greatest of the time were Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato.

The main focus here, however, will solely be Socrates as he was possibly the most thought-provoking and influential of the thinkers. He was the only one that did not write anything and instead did a lot of public speaking about his theories and ideas. So, we rely on the work of his students, “especially Plato and Xenophon” (Kemerling, Garth), to have a precise idea of the thinking of Socrates. The philosopher “invented” Socratic Teaching, which is still used today. This method of teaching consists of asking students questions instead of answers so that the student gets to think on their own and give a confident answer himself.

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He also had a philosophical method called Dialectic, which “consisted of finding the truth with rational reflection and the belief that if a statement is true it cannot lead to false consequences” (Socrates, Questia School) Anyways, philosophy under the teaching and morality of Socrate…