How Did Socrates Change Greek Society

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One of the most important results of the Peloponnesian Wars was the beginning of philosophy. After the Peloponnesian Wars ended people came up with new ideas about life and what it consisted of. These concepts altered the way many people lived and caused great conflict among Athenians. As different opinions were being formed the word was being spread throughout more people, leading to a movement that changed Greek society completely. When people began forming new ideas and philosophies it started to cause a rift between the citizens and introduced new traditions to open the doors for rational thought and reasoning. Even though Greece rebounded after the Peloponnesian Wars, life was still difficult for many citizens. People began to rethink their priorities and started to come up with new beliefs, abandoning the idea that life was based on fate and the will of gods. The new ideas about life made the more fundamental citizens feel uneasy, especially those portrayed by Socrates. Socrates was one of the most influential yet controversial people to live during the Golden Age. He was famous …show more content…

To expand his outreach and gain a larger following Plato created the Academy. At the Academy Plato taught astronomy, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, and metaphysics. His form of teaching did not focus on imprinting certain beliefs in people’s minds, rather on making people rationalize and come to their own conclusions. This was very different from how society normally was, since most people had a set of certain principles they wanted others to follow. Although Plato wanted people to make their own beliefs, he did have a particular idea about the human soul and how the government should be run. He envisioned the perfect society consisting of three main groups; guardians, or philosophers, at the top, the defenders known as auxiliaries in the middle, and producers at the