Need help choosing Greek/Roman authors

[Mudhammam]

Plato was key in popularizing the idea of questioning authority. And some have equated his "Apology" in where Socrates question the powers and was forced to commit suicide by hemlock for doing such. Many have equated that story to the story of Jesus(questioning authority). His "Allegory Of The Cave", was also a message to question what you perceive.

But Dawkins in the opening of his book "The Greatest Show On Earth", blames much of humanity's utopia politics and religious ideology on his idea of "essence". The idea that if you simply thought about something you could find it's "true" form. Plato had no way of knowing how important the quality control of testing and falsification we know is key to modern science. Dawkins places blame on Plato for much of how human logic has suffered since.

I can definitely see some parallel between Socrates and Jesus in how they were perceived by their followers as great and pure teachers and their each (supposedly) facing a sham trial and then embracing the verdict with Stoic calm. I'd say that's where the similarities end, and minus Socrates' affection for "young" males, he emerges as the thinker whom I much more admire.

Dawkins is right to blame the influence that subsequent thinkers allowed Plato to have on them, but is it fair to blame Plato? I think he was a brilliant philosopher and writer in his time, and his consequence on history is so pervasive that it's practically impossible to imagine Western philosophy without him. Were many of his ideas bogus? Sure. But they also forced subsequent generations to think about the world in a fascinating new way and to present their arguments better than him.