| Apology |
A defense of one’s teachings, also the Platonic dialogue in which Socrates defends himself against charges of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens but is sentenced to death. |
| Dialectic |
A discourse between individuals holding different points of view about a subject aimed at establishing the truth through reasoned argumentation; also, the process of thought by which apparent contradictions are seen to be a part of a higher truth. |
| Dialogues |
A genre of literary prose developed in Greece at the turn of the fourth century BC. Plato’s dialogues are teaching discourses in large part reconstructing the conversations of Socrates. |
| Hemlock |
A poisonous plant, the extract of which was used to execute Athenian citizens at the time of Socrates. |
| Plato |
Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, student and chief biographer of Socrates, founder of the Academy in the grove of Academus outside Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. |
| Socrates |
Athenian philosopher who is credited as a founder of Western philosophy. Considered dialectic to be central to the pursuit of truth. |
| Socratic Method |
A form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions. |
| Sophist |
A paid teacher of philosophy and rhetoric in Greece in the Classical and Hellenistic periods associated with moral skepticism and specious reasoning. |
