Socrates Precursors:
3 Minute Philosophy Style
3 Minute Philosophy on Pythagoras (570-495 BCE).
3 Minute Philosophy on Empedocles (490-430 BCE).
Empedocles is writing/thinking around the same time as Socrates (470-399 BCE).
3 Minute Philosophy on Heracltus (535-475 BCE) and Parmenides (515-460 BCE).
All three are writing/thinking around the same time as Confucius (551-479 BCE).
3 Minute Philosophy is one of those goofy internet "sensations" put together by S. Peter Davis. They are outlandish at times, but essentially "correct" and will provide you with some insight into what folks were thinking/writing before Socrates came along. Enjoy!
Our Boy Socrates in 8 Bit Form
Emerging Philsophical Movements in Socrates Time
Metaphysics: Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy responsible for the study of existence. It, more or less, asks the question of "what is?" It is the foundation of a worldview. It answers the question "What is?" It encompasses everything that exists, as well as the nature of existence itself. It says whether the world is real, or merely an illusion. It is a fundamental view of the world around us. Another way to think about it is that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
Eternalism: The view that time resembles space and thus past and future events are in some sense coexistent.
Fatalism: The belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable.
Determinism: Is the philosophical position that for every event, including human action, there exist conditions that could cause no other event.
Plato's "Apology". Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Ed. Jim Manis. Electronic Classics Series Publication. Hazelton, PA: PSU-Hazelton, 1998-2013. Web.