Terme de Glossaire

A Greek philosopher considered as the founder of Western philosophy, even though he left behind no written work. We know him above all through Plato. The son of a midwife, he said he had inherited from her the art of giving birth not to bodies but to sprits. His method, known as maieutics, consisted of dialoguing as much as possible with the people he met at Athens, making them first of all aware of their ignorance; making use of irony he would ask them questions, drawing responses and, after having thus provoked confusion in their consciousnesses, he would step by step lead them to the discovery of knowledge. His preoccupations were essentially moral: he taught his fellow citizens to think by and about themselves, in short to know themselves better. He was persuaded that the men who had rid himself of prejudices could not but live in goodness and truth. His independence of spirit earned him condemnation to death by the popular tribune of the Athenian city.