During the time of Early Greece, a concept was introduced that changed the future and the minds of prominent thinkers to come. It was philosophy. Already exposed to lyrical poetry like that of Sappho, the first philosophers or the presocratics arose after lifetimes of compliance. They had new ideas, ideas that weren't fixed on the traditional religious teachings of the time. The Gods were not a concern for these pioneers since they were purely seeking to understand. Employing theoretical reasoning and simple logic, the first philosophers were increasingly capable of solving rational questions about the world and those within it.
After years of religious coaching, one would imagine that there were some Grecians that readily accepted these new thinkers and indeed those who reviled them. Schools that centered around these philosophical theories began to arise and philosophy found itself ever spreading. These presocratic schools shared a common focus, it being to understand the origin of the world and the machine by which it was driven, however, they did not all share the same model. For instance, the Materialists developed the first school, one that would seek to describe all phenomena in terms of one or more elements. These theories were controversial, however, becoming more and more popular. .
Philosophy had a strong impact on culture during the time of its introduction into Athenian society. With an extensive selection of philosophical schools already developed, political and cultural change began. Sculptures became increasingly more naturalistic, a fitting example being Myron with one of his most famous pieces, Discobolos. The ideas that philosophers were teaching concentrated around balance and order, ideas also reflected in Myron's sculpting. He controlled the human form by utilizing the principals of proportion, symmetry, and balance. Whereas vases were mostly abstract prior to the introduction to philosophy, they too grew to be progressively more naturalistic, sometimes depicting vegetation as well as the culture of the people.
