Name _________________ Date _____________ Period ________
Philosopher Graphic Organizer
Ancient Greece was greatly responsible for the outbreak of Philosophy in Western Civilization. Philosophy,
which is Greek for “Love of Wisdom,” is the search continual for wisdom and knowledge. Read the following excerpts on
the three greatest Greek philosophers, and create a graphic organizer for one of them on the back of this sheet.
This graphic organizer must include: A Title, a Picture of your philosopher, 5 facts, and a quote.
Socrates was born in the mid-400s BCE and was the first of the great Athenian
philosophers. Though he was famous even in his own lifetime, we know very little about his
personal life. Most of what we know about him comes from the writings of his students, like
Plato. Socrates was interested in broad concepts of human life, like truth, justice, and virtue
(positive qualities). He thought that philosophers could learn what made good people and
good societies. To learn these things, he thought that one had to ask questions. He would
start with basic questions like, “What is truth?” When a person answered, Socrates would
follow up with even more questions. By learning through questioning, Socrates thought we
could discover the secrets of life. This was called the Socratic Method.
Quote: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” - Socrates
Plato was one of Socrates’s students and eventually become famous in his own right.
Unlike Socrates, Plato left behind many of his writings that recorded his ideas. These writings
covered a wide variety of topics like: the nature of truth and goodness, the best form of
government, and who should lead society. Plato’s most famous work the Republic, argued
that government should be run by the most qualified people – Philosophers. No one else had
the skills necessary to lead. Plato did not think it was a good idea that all men should be able
to vote, only the intellectually capable ones. In the end Plato founded the Academy, a school
where respected philosophers could teach their students and hold debates.
Quote: “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to
say something.” – Plato
Aristotle was one of the scholars who studied at the Academy, founded by Plato, and
was the third great Athenian philosopher. Unlike Socrates and Plato who studied human
behavior, Aristotle focused on Nature and the physical world around him. One of Aristotle’s
most valuable contributions to philosophy was his emphasis on reason and logic. Reason
means clear and ordered thinking. Aristotle argued that people should use reason to help
them learn about and run the world. He used logic to show people that they could use the
information they already know to solve problems.
Quote: “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” - Aristotle