Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

44 results found

Isocrates

(Encyclopedia)Isocrates īsŏkˈrətēz [key], 436–338 b.c., one of the Ten Attic Orators. He was a pupil of Socrates and of the Sophists. Perhaps the greatest teacher in Greek history, he taught every younger or...

Sozomen

(Encyclopedia)Sozomen sōzōˈmĕn [key], 5th cent., Byzantine church historian, b. Gaza. A fuller form of his name is Salaminius Hermias Sozomenus. His Ecclesiastical History was written in 439–50. The nine exta...

Megarian school

(Encyclopedia)Megarian school, Greek school of philosophy at Mégara from late 5th cent. to early 3d cent. b.c. Influenced by the Eleatic school and by Socrates, it was known for its interest in logic and for argum...

Critias

(Encyclopedia)Critias krĭshˈēəs, krĭtēəs [key], c.460–403 b.c., Athenian political leader and writer. A relative of Plato, he was an aristocrat and had early training in philosophy with Socrates and wrote ...

apology

(Encyclopedia)apology [Gr.,=defense], literary work that defends, justifies, or clarifies an author's ideas or point of view. Unlike the ordinary use of the word, the literary use neither implies that wrong has bee...

Antisthenes

(Encyclopedia)Antisthenes ăntĭsˈthənēz [key], b. 444? b.c., d. after 371 b.c., Greek philosopher, founder of the Cynics. Most of his paradoxical views stemmed from his early Sophist orientation, even though he...

Protagoras

(Encyclopedia)Protagoras prōtăgˈərəs [key], c.490–c.421 b.c., Greek philosopher of Abdera, one of the more distinguished Sophists. He taught for a time in Athens, where he was a friend of Pericles and knew S...

Aristophanes

(Encyclopedia)Aristophanes ărˌĭstŏfˈənēz [key], c.448 b.c.–c.388 b.c., Greek playwright, Athenian comic poet, greatest of the ancient writers of comedy. His plays, the only full extant samples of the Greek...

Plato

(Encyclopedia)Plato plāˈtō [key], 427?–347 b.c., Greek philosopher. Plato's teachings have been among the most influential in the history of Western civilization. Many of the late dialogues are devoted to te...

dialectic

(Encyclopedia)dialectic dīəlĕkˈtĭk [key] [Gr.,= art of conversation], in philosophy, term originally applied to the method of philosophizing by means of question and answer employed by certain ancient philosop...

Browse by Subject