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Socrates, the father of critical thinking, pioneered the Socratic method—asking sharp, uncomfortable questions to expose contradictions and challenge dogmas. His humility, summed up in the phrase, "I know that I know nothing," laid the foundation for critical reflection. Although Socrates paid the ultimate price—being sentenced to death for his questioning—his legacy persisted through philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and later Enlightenment figures such as Kant and Voltaire, who championed reason, inquiry, and skepticism.