The Ancient World’s Most Influential Philosophers: The Lives and Works of Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero

By Charles River Editors (Editor)

Many people argue that Confucius is the most influential person of all time, and if having a significant effect on the greatest number of people is the criterion, he may very well be. China is one of the largest and oldest civilizations on earth, and Confucius has been influential there from almost the beginning: the first Chinese dynasty was founded around 1600 BCE and Confucius lived from 551-479 BCE.

Although he is still one of history’s most famous philosophers, Confucius was in many respects an unremarkable man, and even his physical features were said to be unattractive. There is little evidence that he thought of himself as a harbinger of any kind, but shortly after his death, writings, sayings, and theories based on his life and ideas spread throughout China and even took hold of the imperial court of one of the most powerful and important dynasties, the Han (206 BCE-220 CE). It was during the Han Dynasty that Confucianism became closely tied to state affairs, and it would remain so until the fall of the last dynasty in 1912. Confucianism was closely tied to state religious and ritual practice, and naturally, it benefited greatly from this relationship and was able to subsequently exert influence on all aspects of society.[1] As a "state religion", it provided "religious sanction for policy-making, official sacrifices, court ceremonies, royal marriage, funeral and mourning rights" as well as several major sacrifices to gods and ancestors.[2] Confucianism continues to reverberate to the present day; the Chinese Communist Party still discusses Confucius in their official newspapers and references his thought when they think it will help promote a political or social stance.

In 427 B.C., the Ancient Greek city-state of Athens was flourishing.  Approximately 80 years earlier, the Athenians had formed the first self-representative democracy in history, the Peloponnesian War against Sparta had only just started, and Socrates was only beginning to lay the foundation of what would become Western philosophy. 

None of Socrates’ works survived antiquity, so most of what is known about him came from the writings of his followers, most notably Plato.  What is known about Socrates is that he seemed to make a career out of philosophy, and Plato was intent on following in his footsteps. Yet for all of the influence of Socrates’ life on his followers, it was Socrates’ death around 399 B.C. that truly shaped them.  Plato was so embittered by Socrates’ trial in Athens that he completely soured on Athenian democracy, and Aristotle would later criticize politicians who relied on rhetoric; when Aristotle’s own life was threatened, he fled Greece and allegedly remarked, “I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy."

Since Socrates wrote nothing down, or at least nothing that survived antiquity, there has been a wealth of scholarship ever since attempting to determine the person to whom the philosophical positions of the various (and genuine) Socratic dialogues of Plato’s should be attributed. Even though Aristotle insisted that Socrates only cared about ethics and held no metaphysical theory of the kind that Plato propounded, the attempt to read the ugly but wise Socrates via the Platonic dialogues continued up to the 20th century. The change of tone, style and philosophical topics seemed to be a big argument that Socratic views are to be found in the early Platonic works, whereas later works bear the stamp of Plato’s personal views. The Platonic scholar Gregory Vlastos introduced a developmentalist position which has almost become an orthodoxy in Platonic studies, by moving the discussion from the historical Socrates to Plato as a philosopher. According to developmentalism, if the views in the dialogue are not spelled out only to be refuted afterward, then the person they should be attributed to is Plato and not Socrates. These philosophical views developed o

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles River Editors
• Release date: May 1, 2025
• ISBN: 9781475332391

Book preview

The Ancient World’s Most Influential Philosophers: The Lives and Works of Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero

By Charles River Editors

Raphael’s School of Athens

About Charles River Editors

Charles River Editors is a boutique digital publishing company, specializing in bringing history back to life with educational and engaging books on a wide range of topics.

We make these books for you and always want to know our readers’ opinions, so we encourage you to leave reviews and look forward to publishing new and exciting titles each week.

Introduction

Confucius (551-479 B.C.)

File:Confucius Tang Dynasty.jpg

A medieval portrait of Confucius by the Tang Dynasty artist Wu Daozi

At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the will of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without overstepping the boundaries of what was right. – Confucius

Confucius has no interest in falsehood; he did not pretend to be prophet; he claimed no inspiration; he taught no new religion; he used no delusions; flattered not the emperor under whom he lived... - Voltaire

Many people argue that Confucius is the most influential person of all time, and if having a significant effect on the greatest number of people is the criterion, he may very well be. China is one of the largest and oldest civilizations on earth, and Confucius has been influential there from almost the beginning: the first Chinese dynasty was founded around 1600 BCE and Confucius lived from 551-479 BCE.

Although he is still one of history’s most famous philosophers, Confucius was in many respects an unremarkable man, and even his physical features were said to be unattractive. There is little evidence that he thought of himself as a harbinger of any kind, but shortly after his death, writings, sayings, and theories based on his life and ideas spread throughout China and even took hold of the imperial court of one of the most powerful and important dynasties, the Han (206 BCE-220 CE). It was during the Han Dynasty that Confucianism became closely tied to state affairs, and it would remain so until the fall of the last dynasty in 1912. Confucianism was closely tied to state religious and ritual practice, and naturally, it benefited greatly from this relationship and was able to subsequently exert influence on all aspects of society.¹ As a state religion, it provided religious sanction for policy-making, official sacrifices, court ceremonies, royal marriage, funeral and mourning rights as well as several major sacrifices to gods and ancestors.² Confucianism continues to reverberate to the present day; the Chinese Communist Party still discusses Confucius in their official newspapers and references his thought when they think it will help promote a political or social stance.

Eventually Confucius himself was worshiped as a sage, though accounts of his own opinions of himself are nothing but humble. As his great successor Mencius (372-289 BCE) put it, Since humanity came into this world, there has never been one greater than Confucius.³ The description of the capture of a unicorn in the important Confucian classic, the Spring and Autumn Annals, was taken as a sign that Confucius was chosen by heaven to found a new moral dynasty.⁴ The state ritual sacrifice to Confucius grew rapidly in importance during the Han dynasty and continued to grow in later dynasties. In 630, for example, the Tang dynasty (618-907) founder ordered that every district and country establish a Confucius temple.⁵

Socrates (circa 469-399 B.C.)

File:David - The Death of Socrates.jpg

Jacques-Louis David’s famous The Death of Socrates (1787)

As for me, all I know is that I know nothing, for when I don't know what justice is, I'll hardly know whether it is a kind of virtue or not, or whether a person who has it is happy or unhappy. – attributed to Socrates in Plato’s The Republic

In 427 B.C., the Ancient Greek city-state of Athens was flourishing. Approximately 80 years earlier, the Athenians had formed the first self-representative democracy in history, the Peloponnesian War against Sparta had only just started, and Socrates was only beginning to lay the foundation of what would become Western philosophy.

None of Socrates’ works survived antiquity, so most of what is known about him came from the writings of his followers, most notably Plato. What is known about Socrates is that he seemed to make a career out of philosophy, and Plato was intent on following in his footsteps. Yet for all of the influence of Socrates’ life on his followers, it was Socrates’ death around 399 B.C. that truly shaped them. Plato was so embittered by Socrates’ trial in Athens that he completely soured on Athenian democracy, and Aristotle would later criticize politicians who relied on rhetoric; when Aristotle’s own life was threatened, he fled Greece and allegedly remarked, I will not allow the Athenians to sin twice against philosophy.

Since Socrates wrote nothing down, or at least nothing that survived antiquity, there has been a wealth of scholarship ever since attempting to determine the person to whom the philosophical positions of the various (and genuine) Socratic dialogues of Plato’s should be attributed. Even though Aristotle insisted that Socrates only cared about ethics and held no metaphysical theory of the kind that Plato propounded, the attempt to read the ugly but wise Socrates via the Platonic dialogues continued up to the 20th century. The change of tone, style and philosophical topics seemed to be a big argument that Socratic views are to be found in the early Platonic works, whereas later works bear the stamp of Plato’s personal views. The Platonic scholar Gregory Vlastos introduced a developmentalist position which has almost become an orthodoxy in Platonic studies, by moving the discussion from the historical Socrates to Plato as a philosopher. According to developmentalism, if the views in the dialogue are not spelled out only to be refuted afterward, then the person they should be attributed to is Plato and not Socrates. These philosophical views developed over a period of time, which also justifies the various inconsistencies and outright rejection of Plato's own metaphysical statements in subsequent dialogues.

Plato (427-347 B.C.)

Plato-raphael.jpg

Plato depicted in Raphael’s School of Athens

Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils — no, nor the human race, as I believe — and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day. – Plato, The Republic

About a decade after Socrates’ death, Plato returned to Athens and founded his famous Platonic Academy around 387 B.C., which he oversaw for 40 years until his death. One of Plato’s philosophical beliefs was that writing down teachings was less valuable than passing them down orally, and several of Plato’s writings are responses to previous writings of his, so Plato’s personally held beliefs are hard to discern. However, Plato educated several subsequent philosophers, chief among them Aristotle, and his writings eventually formed the backbone of Western philosophy.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

File:Aristotle Altemps Inv8575.jpg

All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. For not only with a view to action, but even when we are not going to do anything, we prefer sight to almost everything else. The reason is that this, most of all the senses, makes us know and brings to light many differences between things. – Aristotle, Metaphysics

Alongside Socrates and Plato, Aristotle is, without question, one of the most influential ancient Greek philosophers and arguably the greatest icon of ancient thought. His life and work expanded rapidly and extensively across the ancient world, helped in part by the fact he tutored Alexander the Great, he was a recognized and celebrated intellectual force during all of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Furthermore, after Aristotle, Greek thought and political influence began a rapid decline, and the cultivation of knowledge, so important during the classic period, slowly but surely began to fade, making Aristotle the last of ancient Greece’s great philosophers.

Aristotle’s influence on Western philosophical thought is marked by an extensive list of crucial issues that both signaled the way forward but at the same time boggled philosophers’ minds throughout the centuries. Aristotle’s reflections on Being, as well as his rigorous Logic, were his most important philosophical legacy, but he was also an intellectual in the broadest sense of the word. His interests went beyond metaphysical questions and into practical life and practical knowledge, from ethics to politics, rhetoric and the sciences, all of which left a profound impact on Western political thought and ethics. Naturally, this has also made him one of the foundations of knowledge and philosophical thought that subsequent philosophers relied on when forming and refining their own philosophies.

Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

File:Cicero - Musei Capitolini.JPG

Ancient bust of Cicero made around the mid-1st century A.D.

Genius is fostered by energy. - Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) was one of the most famous Romans in his day, and posterity has been even kinder to him. Cicero was a legend in his own time for his oratory abilities, which he used to persuade fellow Senators and denounce enemies like Catiline and Mark Antony, but he was also one of Rome’s most prodigious writers and political philosophers. Alongside Pericles, Cicero was one of antiquity’s greatest politicians, and he has remained one of the most influential statesmen in history, relied upon by the Romans of his day, political philosophers like John Locke, Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau, and America’s Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson credited Cicero as an inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, and John Adams asserted, As all the ages of the world have not produced a greater statesman and philosopher united than Cicero, his authority should have great weight.

While De re publica (The Republic) is his most well known work, Cicero’s letters were also preserved. Cicero’s letters include informal correspondences to friends, as well as long-winding thoughts about political topics that could pass as their own treatises. Nothing escaped Cicero’s attention, indicating the extent to which Cicero kept up with events and how frequently he put his thoughts down on paper. The period covered by the letters of Cicero is one of the most important periods not just for Rome but for the history of the world, and it was covered by one of the most knowledgeable authorities at the time.

Cicero’s works were monumental, but he also happened to live during one of the most crucial times in all of Rome’s history. He was an important Senator during the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and the side he chose came back to haunt him years later when Mark Antony and Octavian took power in the wake of Caesar’s assassination. Although he was in old age, Cicero himself was ultimately hunted down by the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian and put to death. Antony hated him so thoroughly that he had Cicero’s head and hands displayed publicly in the Forum, a gruesome testament to the fact that Cicero’s words and writings had been so important.

The Ancient World’s Most Influential Philosophers: The Lives and Works of Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero examines all the important work done by each philosopher. Along with pictures depicting important people and places, as well as a bibliography and Table of Contents, you will learn about the philosophers like never before.

The Ancient World’s Most Influential Philosophers: The Lives and Works of Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero

About Charles River Editors

Introduction

Confucius

Chapter 1: China in Confucius’s Time

Chapter 2: Confucius the Man

Chapter 3: The Five Classics

Chapter 4: The Four Books

Bibliography

Socrates

Chapter 1: The Life of Socrates

Chapter 2: The Trial of Socrates

Chapter 3: Socrates in Plato’s Works

Chapter 4: The Socratic Method and Knowledge

Chapter 5: Socrates and Politics

Chapter 6: The Daimón

Chapter 7: Socrates in Xenophon

Chapter 8: Sophists

Chapter 9: Socrates’ Legacy

Bibliography

Plato

Chapter 1: Plato’s Background

Chapter 2: Knowledge and the Soul, Love and Reality

Chapter 3: The Republic – A Careful Construction of a Utopia

Chapter 4: Between Conceptual Analysis and Grand Visions

Chapter 5: Analyzing Plato’s Legacy

Bibliography:

Aristotle

Chapter 1: Aristotle’s Life

Chapter 2: Ideas in Context

Chapter 3: Knowledge and Metaphysics

Chapter 4: Logic

Chapter 5: Rhetoric

Chapter 6: Physics

Chapter 7: Ethics

Chapter 8: Politics

Chapter 9: Aristotle’s Legacy

Bibliography

Cicero

Chapter 1: A Legend in the Making

Chapter 2: A Start in Law and Politics

Chapter 3: Ups and Downs

Chapter 4: Civil War

Chapter 5: Power Struggle

Chapter 6: Cicero’s Legacy

Bibliography

Confucius

Chapter 1: China in Confucius’s Time

File:Confucius Statue at the Confucius Temple.jpg

A statue of Confucius at the Confucius Temple in Beijing.

When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be ashamed of. - Confucius

He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place when all the stars are rotating about it. - Confucius

Confucius lived during the twilight of the Zhou dynasty (1027-256 BCE), which is remembered for marking the birth of a truly Chinese dynasty and culture. During that time, many distinct features of Chinese culture, such as the writing system, were solidified and spread. Timelines for the Zhou are divided into Western (1046-771 BCE) and Eastern (771-256 BCE) periods based on an initial collapse in authority and its reassertion, and during the second phase, the several kingships that were united by the central authority in the capital began to gain ever-increasing independence and compete with each other more and more fiercely. Confucius, who lived in the middle of the second period, saw this internal division as contrary to proper order, and he dreamt of the earlier times when the great kings reigned.

The Zhou originated as a rival state of Shang, the first verifiable Chinese dynasty, but the Zhou King Wen consolidated his position on the Wei River plain (near present day Xian in Shaanxi Province), where he established the most powerful state west of Shang. When the Zhou succeeded in conquering all of Shang's territory, the Zhou king returned west, leaving his brothers behind to rule. This was a recipe for division, and eventually a civil war was fought to keep the empire together.

The Zhou government structure was very important to Confucius. The capital housed the royal family and had accommodations for all of the major families, while state affairs were overseen by a group of increasingly professional bureaucrats.⁶ They were led by the king, first and foremost, and the next most powerful bodies were the Ministry, the Many Officials, and the District Administrators who oversaw local civil officials in charge of areas controlled directly by the Zhou central court.⁷ Below them were the Hundred Craftsmen and the rulers of various states outside central administrative control.⁸ This allowed for all power to be traced up to the king through a chain of administrative levels.

Clans were another important facet of Zhou rule, and the Zhou were the first people of China to institute it. They allowed the ordering of marriage relations, which were critical to establishing alliances and maintaining the stability and unity of the Zhou kingdom and its affiliated states.⁹ As the basic social units that held land estates and competed for economic and political power, lineages would divide periodically, and minor lineages would observe the authority of the primary lineage. This division among the royal household is how the regional states were formed. ¹⁰

Among the Zhou, there were two types of states: those in the Wei River valley, over which the Zhou royal court exercised direct administrative control, and the regional states in the east.¹¹ New states were colonized, as Zhou royal kinsmen and relatives were established as rulers of the regional states, often accompanied by Zhou or allied migrants.¹² The states were given a certain level of autonomy, and the Zhou king would interfere only on matters of succession.¹³ Still, the regional states frequently communicated with and visited the central government, paying homage to the king, who stationed royal inspectors in the regional states to ensure a level of oversight.¹⁴ Since regional rulers enjoyed great autonomy over their internal politics, one place they were more dependent upon the central government was the military, but the Zhou king also relied on them heavily for amassing troops and coordinating military actions to defend the kingdom.¹⁵

By the time Confucius was traveling around China, much of the Zhou central authority and institutions had weakened dramatically. Instead of the royal authority being the authority to which all the lesser powers deferred to or took orders from, it was now a symbolic granter of legitimacy to the strongest power. For hundreds of years, the Chinese world would be broken up into a dozen or so competing states. One would be dominant for 10-20 years, then another, and wars would be fought until a peace was brokered and subsequently weakened. The upside of this situation was that change was dynamic and rapid, because states drew people, technology, and culture from the borderlands while also using the established accomplishments and traditions of the center. It was a time full of intellectual creation, but the disadvantages of war, uncertainty, and instability were obvious, especially to Confucius.¹⁶ These concerns pop up constantly in his works.

Chapter 2: Confucius the Man

Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn't it also great when friends visit from distant places? If one remains not annoyed when he is not understood by people around him, isn't he a sage? - Confucius

Most of the information that exists about Confucius is legendary, but modern scholars are fairly certain that Confucius was born around 551 BCE in the state of Lu in northeast China, which is currently a part of Shandong province. His father was a ritual leader from the well-respected Zang