Who had the greatest impact on the foundation and formation of Western culture?

Question

What one person was significant in their role in the development of Western culture? Someone human, who actually lived and walked the face of the earth.

Answer 1

If I had to pick a single individual, I would pick Aristotle. But he stood on the shoulders of those who preceded him - especially the Greek philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Miletus, Pythagoras, etc.

The Greeks themselves inherited much from Egypt and Mesopotamia. The essential new thing about the Greeks which led to Western culture was their first-ever examination of the world from a natural point of view as opposed to a magical religious point of view. This was the beginning of science.

Answer 2

When one speaks of the foundation and formation of a culture I don't blieve it can be traced to a single person. Perhaps an earlier culture with a history. The early Greek culture had a tremendous impact on the beginnings of Western culture...no doubt...

Answer 3

Perhaps Pythagoras or Socrates or Plato, because they developed the concept of rigorous examination of phenomena to try and develop a coherent theory of knowledge of the world. Of those, Pythagoras was first in time.

In essence, they taught us to ask questions and seek answers in a formal framework, which is the concept that underpins western ideas of knowledge.