Socrates

About Socrates

Socrates, the classical Greek philosopher from Athens who lived from 470 to 399 BCE, fundamentally shaped Western thought through his method of inquiry, known as the Socratic Method. Although he wrote no texts himself, his profound influence on pupils like Plato ensured his legacy, leading the Pantheon project to rank him as the 24th most historically important figure globally. His persistent questioning of accepted notions regarding ethics, knowledge, and justice forms the bedrock of much subsequent philosophical discourse.

Despite this high historical standing, Socrates' modern internet attention appears relatively aligned with his importance. In 2025, his Wikipedia page garnered 1.7 million views. This is roughly equivalent to his HPI Rank of #24, evidenced by his near-perfect Attention Gap score of ~1x. For contrast, this is significantly less than his fellow philosopher Laozi, ranked #62 in importance, who attracted 3.7 million views, suggesting a disproportionate interest in Eastern thought online, or perhaps a lower global cultural footprint for the ancient Greek in this metric.

Observing temporal trends, Socrates' interest shows a slight cooling, with a -9.1% year-over-year decrease in views, and a -2% drop between the first and third quarters of 2025. This suggests that while his place in the canon is secure, the current digital pulse is perhaps slowing its engagement with his foundational ideas.