The Influence of Socrates’ Philosophy and Spirit.docVIP

The Influence of Socrates’ Philosophy and Spirit The culture of ancient Greece is of long history and great significance. It constitutes an important part of the world’s cultural legacy and imposes a deep influence on the development of the whole world, especially on western culture. In many aspects, the Greek culture is not only colorful, but also plays a leading role in the creation of world legacy. In my point of view, the Greek philosophy represented by Socrates is the major legacy that ancient Greeks left to the western civilization. Socrates is a famous thinker, philosopher and educationalist in ancient Greece, who nowadays is universally acknowledged as the founder of western philosophy. Socrates’ far-reaching influence on the western world is best shown in his philosophic opinions on the importance of knowledge and social development as well as his audacious spirit in safeguarding truth. Socrates puts great emphasis on the importance of knowledge. To advocate such kind of knowledge, he establishes an ethic system which centers on exploring the life goals and a spirit of being kind and virtuous. He holds that the highest point of that system is to seek and master true knowledge. In the eyes of Socrates, to be a person of virtuousness, one must first have a sound knowledge of of virtue, for all virtueless behaviors are more less the result of being ignorant. Thus, the capture of knowledge can help people get rid of many obstacles and adversities, and then through such process enable them to form a kind of virtue that contains wisdom, braveness and righteousness within themselves. In this case, we can say that to possess true knowledge is a necessary and indispensable step towards being a successful person. It is Socrates that inspires many scholars to devote themselves to learning and exploring new things which eventually turns out to be a precious legacy for the development of different branches of philosophy. And this also provides an abundant ideological