Socrates introduced his philosophy of pleasure into Greece's predominately depressing culture. The disastrous Peloponnesian Wars (about 430–404), which left its populace steeped in pessimism, were roiling the nation.

Ancient people's conception of bliss as some elusive phenomena that was occasionally delivered by gods whom they preferred was mostly based on demonology. Socrates taught the idea of cultivating happiness on our own. He argued that tranquility in the deepest part of our souls may be attained by reason, unaffected by outside forces. Knowledge was inversely correlated with happiness. In ancient Greece, the notion of finding happiness was seen as hubris (a form of arrogance). Discussions are limited to metaphysical issues, such as what the elements of the universe are. In contrast, Socrates broke the prevailing regime's rules by asking questions about morality and social issues like what genuine happiness entails.

After much thought, Socrates concluded that the secret to pleasure lay in emphasizing the soul rather than the body. One might only reach the home of inner pleasure by living a virtuous and enlightened life. And we can guess that the majority of wise gurus agree.

The issue of Socrates' opposition to the vote-based system is commonly contested, and it comes up in philosophical debates when trying to determine exactly what Socrates believed and did not believe. Though this is typically seen as a second-hand account through the "exchanges," Plato's Republic provides the most convincing proof that Socrates did not believe in democracy. In Plato's Apology, Socrates is shown as not pursuing common legal matters and constantly stating that he could not counsel others on how to live their lives since he did not yet understand how to live his own.

One of the themes emphasized in Andrew David Irvine's 2008 drama Socrates on Trial is Socrates' views on democracy. Irvine argues that Socrates was content to accept his fellow citizens' choice because of his faith in Athenian majority rule. According to Irvine: “Amid a period of war and incredible social and scholarly change, Socrates felt constrained to express his perspectives straightforwardly, paying little attention to the results. Subsequently, he is remembered today not just for his sharp mind and high moral principles, but also for his steadfastness to the view that in a vote-based system, the ideal path is for a man to serve himself, his companions, and his city – notwithstanding amid times of war – by being faithful to, and by talking freely about the truth.”

One of the Contributions of Socrates was to take care of the soul.

Socrates discovered that people frequently neglected the spirit in favor of concerns of wealth, fame, or appearance. He thought that the gods had given him the duty of reminding people of the value of the soul or spirit. He made the case that being wealthy does not always lead to greatness but rather to prosperity for everybody.

Socrates thought that the care of the soul should be applied to the entirety of Athens and that the gods had bestowed him onto the city as a favor and a means of enhancing it. Therefore, he said that this demonstrated that he was actually working with the gods and not against them. Socrates compared himself to a horsefly that was always attempting to stir the dormant city to life. Without philosophical discussion, he thought, the majority rule government would become stagnant, smug, and in risk of doing harm to both itself and the populace.

Socrates believed it was his responsibility to push and confront others so they may start to examine themselves.

Plato has distilled a deep debate that yields a number of conclusions into the conversation Meno. It recreates his exchanges with an untrained servant kid who is also known as Meno's slave. As we continue reading the conversations, it becomes clear that Socrates had given the young boy a mathematical problem in which he needed to increase the square's beginning size. Socrates reached his conclusions on supraliminal beliefs through these exchanges. He claimed that men had endless potential within of them.

Therefore, he emphasized that all we need to know is already within our grasp; all that is required is that we remember the depth of information we possess. Additionally, memory is where knowledge originates. We may access our inner knowledge by engaging in frequent self-examination and reflection. Using his hitherto undiscovered knowledge, the slave was able to accurately redrew the square. The goal was to repeatedly question oneself and engage in intense introspection in order to recall the previously learned information.

Socrates deduced that all beings already had human knowledge and that our only responsibility was to turn inward and search inside for the solutions. By demonstrating a mathematical conundrum, he brought attention to this philosophical viewpoint.

According to Socrates, the purpose of life is to give it significance. He said that we may justify our existence by giving credit to arête, the Greek word for moral virtue. To reach our maximum potential via self-knowledge should be the goal of life. When asked what his life's purpose was, he said that it was to get better every day until he passed away.

He knows that he knows nothing, which is maybe one of the most cherished sayings. Despite the fact that he claimed to have attained self-knowledge, he ironically advanced a number of ethical notions. One of his beliefs was that knowledge is a virtue and that individuals engage in bad deeds because ignorance persists.

A person's acts of harming his fellow people are motivated by ignorance. When someone is harmed, they should not seek to exact revenge on them; instead, they should face severe hardships to keep their souls pure. He built his morally upright existence on this foundation since, in his eyes, there was no other option. At the center of every known spiritual journey is the concept of introspection and self-knowledge. It's all because of this enlightened Zen teacher.

In order to ensure that all members of society have equal access to freedoms, rights, and opportunities while also ensuring that those who are least fortunate are taken care of, social justice must be upheld (Robinson). Education access is a social justice problem.

The educational system was designed with simplicity back then. According to their responsibilities in Athens, boys, girls, and military groups were all required to attend school. Girls stayed at home with their moms, for instance. They saw homeschooling as an opportunity to develop their domestic work abilities. Men received formal education that emphasized reading, writing, and physical activity. They were allegedly being sent to the military and for political engagement, respectively.

Socrates, who favored the same type of education for all genders, spearheaded the push to standardize this system. He was also in favor of educating the city's watchmen, especially the military and academics. Similar to this, he made an effort to divide the educational system into acrobatics for physical growth and music for spiritual nourishment. He advised youngsters to engage in play instead of active learning. Several other Sophists contributed to these reforms, but Socrates was unquestionably the main driver. In Athens, he thus planted the seeds of a modernized educational system, bringing about the practice of higher education.

Socrates provided enough of knowledge for learning, despite the fact that his contradictory claim that the only thing he knows is that he knows nothing perplexed his fellow listeners.

For Socrates, education meant first understanding our ignorance and then transforming it by pursuing the reality of diverse issues. He is adamant about challenging and interpreting the wisdom of the wise men.

He developed heuristic methods like interpreting statements and looking at the words and lives of the wise and well-known in order to obtain insight, just as he said in his quotation to use your time to better yourself via their work. He placed a higher priority on moral and general education than he did on technical skill. He mentioned the major and minor as the two categories of knowledge. It is the allegedly articulated philosophy of value by Socrates.

Minor knowledge, which is essentially information that allows a person to act in a way that is exclusively advantageous to himself, is something that most of us are familiar with. It enables one to become an expert at performing a little work, constrained to requirements and choose beneficiaries. He argued that the latter's scope is significantly wider. It is advantageous to everyone and aims to provide the greatest living possible. To understand the truth, wisdom, and unrivaled goodness, one must reason and define concepts.

One of the contributions of Socrates, Socrates who first attempted to explore the definition of beauty, and he felt that aesthetics was a form of purity. (Greenwald) According to his philosophy, something is lovely if it gives you joy. This notion may be regarded as a sort of beauty, although it may have limitations. In Socrates' day, a majestic and proportioned sculpture served as the criterion by which beauty might be judged. A man's political future depended on his appearance and demeanor, according to this statement. (“Socrates”) The idea of beauty and godlike appearances was prevalent. The simplest person was Socrates; he enjoyed plain geometric designs, solid hues, and musical notes.

Socrates occupied a rather dominant position in relation to the displays of beauty all around him. As a result of its emotive and transient nature, he saw beauty as a "ephemeral tyranny." He believed that attractive items may also cause unrealistic expectations in a person, which could influence that person to act violently. In front of the creative expressions that started to emerge in Ancient Greece like embodiments of beauty, this posture in front of the beauty would be a legacy that Plato would continue to explore.

Socrates is revered as the founder of philosophy because he established the principles of philosophical thinking, such as questioning, as well as the components that make philosophical thought more potent, such as the power of language.

Since the capacity to discuss a topic necessitates careful thinking and reasoning, the skill of Socratic debate is linked to fundamental logic. Socrates held that it was important to consider the nature of learning and figure out the best course of action. What should be accepted or done about an issue is the focus of rational, basic thinking. Socratic discussion, which focuses on depth and argument and assesses the actuality or authenticity of thinking, adds a further layer of thought to fundamental reasoning. Socrates said that lack of knowledge isn't always negative and that pupils should make an effort to comprehend what they don't know by using logic and fundamental thinking.

Basic logic and Socratic discussion both seek meaning and reality. A person may screen, assess, and perhaps reconstruct or reroute their thinking using basic reasoning. This was described as an intelligent request by educational reformer John Dewey, "in which the scholar turns a subject over in the psyche, giving it serious and back-to-back contemplation." Socratic dialogue enables one to carry out self-directed, disciplined investigation to achieve that goal.