Philosophical   thought   and writing were born in the Ionian cities of Asia  Minor. Thales the Milesian , Anaximander , Anaximenes, Heraclitus,  Pythagoras, Empedocles, Leucippus and  Democritus , these and other  wise thinkers of the 6^th century B.C. were connected  with Ionia in one way or another. The problems of cosmogony mostly took up their attention. Within this context, they also endeavored to interpret natural phenomena, which was why Aristotle called them physiologists. In the 5^th century Athens was at the height of its glory and the most philosophers gathered in the city of Pericles where the social climate was more to their liking.

The sophists made their appearance in those days. While the Ionians had searched for the causes of things and for the explanations of the genesis of the world, the sophists turned their attention to human. Social and moral problems and gnosiology took up their time. They were also men who found in philosophy a way of earning their livelihood. They persistently advanced the principle that “truth is what suits the individual’s interest and goodness is what serves the individual “ .Their presence in Athens naturally was a stimulant to lively intellectual discussion though it must be admitted that the democratic regime contributed even more decisively to this.

But their teaching had also negative effects .They made truth into subjective matter and induced people to look at realities in varying lights. Thus they came to harm the younger generation. Protagoras , Prodikos , Hippias, Eleios, and Gorgias from Leontini were the best –known of the sophists.

That period, however, witnessed also the appearance of the world s greatest philosopher. Socrates fought against the sophists. While they proclaimed  that “man constitutes the measure of all things”, Socrates stressed the objective reality of truth and man’s ability to understand truth as such, in its eternal essence. He was simultaneously trying to establish the moral laws which determine relations between men. He thus was led to the thought that virtue is the greatest of gifts given man, and that knowledge is the only sure foundation on which virtue can be based. Hence the need to start off with the admission of one’s basic ignorance and with the understanding that, to reach the ultimate goal of virtue, it is necessary to “know oneself” before attempting to achieve anything else. Socrates loved discussing at the agora, in the gymnasia and the wrestling schools which he visited in the course of the day. Dialectical debate and irony were the weapons he employed. His teachings provoked the anger of numerous Athenians who finally claimed that he corrupted youth and “worked for new daemons or divinities”. He was committed to trial and sentenced to death. He died in 399 B.C.