Socrates

Socrates throughout his life and right before his death is able to see the paradox in life. Most men who are considered wise are really foolish and men who appear foolish are indeed wise. According to him only God is wise and men have little wisdom. He has been accused of misleading the youth and for this has been sentenced to death. He sees nothing shameful about his sentence. He has lived well and has no fear of death. He would rather die for what he believed (his love for wisdom) than accept to be spared on the condition that he no longer freely philosophize. As much as he loves Athens, Socrates would rather obey God than the Athenians. We see here a true Philosopher and citizen. He is ready to die for his convictions. He knows his worth and predicts that if he is killed it will be more of a loss for Athens than for him. They will with great difficulty find another person like him. He was right. The world has not seen another Socrates but his thought continues to influence people and cultures millennia after his death.

The Chinese and Greeks both believed in the power of the human mind to understand the world and grasp reality. Confucius stressed the need for moral character and intellectual abilities as qualities government leaders should posses. Education and morals went hand-in-hand. Virtue was embodied in  wen -- rational, linguistic and literary abilities and wu --physical and martial achievements. The former occupied a higher place in society than the latter.