Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. Although he wrote nothing, information about his personality and doctrine is derived chiefly from depictions of his conversations and other information in the dialogues of Plato, in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, and in various writings of Aristotle. Socrates historicity has never been challenged, but what he taught is as elusive as the philosophical tenets of Pythagoras or the later teachings of Jesus. Socrates contribution to philosophy was to move intellectual pursuits away from the focus on physical science and into the abstract realm of ethics and morality. He believed it was his religious duty to call his fellow citizens to the examined life by engaging them in philosophical conversation. His contribution to these exchanges typically consisted of a series of probing questions that cumulatively revealed his interlocutor’s complete ignorance of the subject under discussion; such cross-examination used as a pedagogical technique has been called the “Socratic method” . Socrates influence was felt immediately in the actions of his disciples as they formed their own interpretations of his life, teachings, and death, and set about forming their own philosophical schools and writing about their experiences with their teacher. Socrates impact was immense in philosophy after his death. With the exception of the Epicureans and the Pyrrhonists, almost all philosophical currents after Socrates traced their roots to him.