Socrates is one of those rare figures whose influence stretches across centuries, shaping the world long after his own time ended. Yet in his lifetime, he wasn’t celebrated the way we honor him now. He did not write books or record his teachings. Instead, he spent his days walking the streets of Athens, asking questions — simple, honest questions — that made people uncomfortable.
Some admired him for this. Others deeply disliked him. And that tension is exactly why his story belongs in this series.
Socrates believed that wisdom wasn’t about having the right answers — it was about asking better questions. He challenged leaders, exposed contradictions, and pushed people to think more deeply than they wanted to. He spoke with the young, the poor, the curious, and the ambitious. He questioned the powerful. He unsettled the comfortable. He insisted that true knowledge begins with admitting how little we really understand.
To many Athenians, this made him a guiding light — someone who inspired self-reflection, courage, and intellectual honesty. To others, it made him a threat — a disruptor who stirred unrest, embarrassed authority, and encouraged the youth to question everything, including long-held traditions.
This division eventually led to his trial in 399 BCE. Socrates was charged with impiety and with “corrupting the youth,” accusations that reflected the anxieties of a society recovering from war, political upheaval, and cultural change. Did Socrates truly corrupt anyone? Or did he simply encourage people to think for themselves in a time when independent thought felt dangerous?
Different people answered that question in very different ways — and that is part of what makes him such a complex figure.
Socrates refused to flee or save himself, even though he easily could have. He believed that obeying the law, even when it felt unjust, was part of his duty as a citizen. He drank the cup of hemlock and died surrounded by friends, leaving behind a legacy preserved not through his own writing, but through the words of his students, especially Plato.
So was Socrates a corrupter? Or a visionary? A danger to society? Or its conscience? The truth is that he was a man who lived by principle, questioned everything, and forced the world to confront its own beliefs. Some found him admirable. Some found him infuriating. But no one found him forgettable.
Famous or Infamous?
In the end, only you can decide whether Socrates was famous or infamous. What we know for certain is that he challenged people to think — and thinking has always been powerful, and sometimes unsettling.
He pushed, he questioned, he provoked, and he inspired. And that is the mark of a man who shaped history not through force, but through thought.