SOURCE: "The Thought of Socrates," in Socrates, The Beacon Press, 1951, pp. 138-83.

In the following essay, Taylor asserts that Socrates significantly influenced the development of European thought by creating the concept of the soul "which has ever since dominated European thinking." Taylor differentiates between the "psyche" as described by Homer and the Orphic and Pythagorean traditions before Socrates, and goes on to examine the Socratic mission of caring for the soul in order to perfect it. Taylor then surveys and interprets Socrates's moral teachings, his theory of knowledge, and his scientific method.

What is the real significance of Socrates in the history of European thought? We may at once dismiss two views which have sometimes been held on this question as incapable of explaining the facts which need to be accounted for. Socrates was not a mere preacher of a commonplace morality of acting like an homme de...