The life of the Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC) marks such a critical point in Western thought that standard histories divide Greek philosophy into pre -Socratic and post-Socratic. Socrates left no writings belonging to him and his work has inspired almost as many different interpretations as there have been interpreters. He remains one of the most important and enigmatic figures in Western philosophy. As a youth, Socrates was fascinated by the new scientific ideas that Anaxagoras and his associate Archelaus had introduced to Athens. He appears to have been for a time the leader of an Athenian research circle - which would explain why Socrates' first appearance in literature is as a wicked atheist scientist in Aristophanes' The Clouds. Young Socrates also knew the sophists and listened to their debates and ceremonial speeches. Socrates and the Sophists Neither science nor sophistry could, however, answer a new philosophical question that struck him. Early Greek thinkers had been concerned almost entirely with physics and cosmology until the sophists suggested that young men should instead be taught the skills necessary to satisfy their natural interest. Instead, Socrates asked, “What is a ‘self’?” Although “Know thyself!” was one of three sayings engraved on the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the directive proved difficult to implement. The so-called scientific conceptions of the time, in particular that of atomism, defined the self as a physical organ responding to environmental pressure. Socrates believed, however, that the sophists, for all their talk of self-interest, were little curious about the status of the self; they thought it was simply an isolated center, constantly hungry for pleasure, prestige and power. The Sophists further believed that the values ​​people advocated were all conventional, varying from culture to culture, and that no one would ever act against their own self-interest, no matter how many people spoke as if they were. he did it. This complex of ideas offered little explanation of human nature and excellence. The Later Life and Thought of Socrates Socrates, embarking on his search for himself, was convinced of the importance of his quest. Until educators and teachers knew what human excellence was, he thought, they would pretend to pretend that they knew how to improve students or society. Socrates believed that there are objective patterns, or "forms", that define human excellence, that they are neither culturally relative nor subjective, and that philosophical inquiry could discover them..