The ancient Greeks produced many great thinkers and philosophers. Greek philosophers studied history, political science, and mathematics. They often taught students as well. The two greatest of all were Socrates and Plato. Socrates was a teacher in Athens. He led discussions about ways to live. He used a form of questioning called the Socratic Method. Basically, he would ask a series of questions. These questions were designed to find the answer to a problem. Or the questions would show the questioner, such as Socrates, how little he actually knew. Socrates annoyed many leading Athenians because he began to question the city’s laws, customs, and religion. Socrates was put on trial for “urging Athens’ young people to revolt.” He was found guilty and sentenced to death. Socrates attracted many students. One of them was named Plato. Plato wrote down all of Socrates’ thoughts. He wrote many different books. Most of them were dialogues involving Socrates and other famous Athenians. One of the most famous was the The Republic. It described the ideal form of government in Plato’s mind. Plato’s works became very important and helped found all of Western philosophy.
古希臘孕育出許多偉大的思想家和哲學家。希臘哲學家研究歷史、政治學乃至數學，通常也會教導學生。而古希臘最偉大的兩位哲人就是蘇格拉底和柏拉圖。 蘇格拉底是一位雅典的導師，主持關於生活方式的討論。他使用一種被稱為「蘇格拉底法」的詰問形式，基本上，他會提出一連串的問題，這些問題的目的是為了探究某個疑難的答案，或者這些問題會表現出提問者本人（如蘇格拉底）的無知程度。 當蘇格拉底開始質詢雅典的法律、習俗和宗教時，此舉激怒了許多雅典的當政者。他被控「教唆雅典年輕人造反」而受審，判處有罪並處以死刑。 蘇格拉底吸引了無數學生，其中一位即為柏拉圖。柏拉圖記錄了蘇格拉底的所有思想，著有眾多不同的書籍，大部分是關於蘇格拉底和其他知名雅典人物的對話。其中最著名的就是《理想國》，書中描述了柏拉圖心中理想的政府形式。柏拉圖的作品非常重要，所有西方哲學的建立都受其啟發。 | 
