Socrate

I know that I know nothing.

Socratic philosophyv. 470 – 399 av. J.-C. GreeceQuestionerMoral philosopherWrote nothingKnown through witnesses

Inspirations

Anaxagoreaccording to Diogenes Laertius, some make him his teacher (sources disagree)

Les sophistes (Protagoras, Gorgias, Thrasymaque)he confronts them: they teach an art of persuasion, he seeks what is true and just

critic

Confucius a Chinese sage who died c. 479 BC, shortly before his birth, with no historical link, who also says: knowing means acknowledging what you do not know

Heirs

Platon his disciple, who makes him the hero of his dialogues and develops his own philosophy

Xénophonanother disciple, who defends him in the Memorabilia

Antisthène et les cyniquestake up his detachment from wealth

Aristippe et les cyrénaïquestake up the enquiry into happiness in the opposite direction (pleasure)

Aristote praises induction and definitions, but judges it false that no one does wrong knowingly

Les stoïciensinherit virtue as knowledge and the image of the sage facing death

how it is computed

Closest

Albert Einstein The physicist of relativity: simultaneity depends on the observer, and there is no 'now' valid for the whole universe.

Democritus Nothing exists but atoms and the void.

Noam Chomsky Linguist who studies language and mind as natural objects, and finds the question "can machines think?" empty.

Viktor Frankl Psychiatrist and camp survivor: we find meaning by giving ourselves to a cause, and happiness comes as a by-product.

Furthest

Rudolf Carnap Member of the Vienna Circle: a statement that can be neither verified nor reduced to a rule of logic has no meaning, and metaphysics is full of them.

Alfred Jules Ayer A sentence no experience could verify is meaningless, and 'God exists' is one of them.