title: Socrates

text: Socrates was charged in a politically tense climate. In 404 BC, the Athenians had been crushed by Spartans at the decisive naval Battle of Aegospotami, and subsequently, the Spartans laid siege to Athens. They replaced the democratic government with a new, pro-oligarchic government, named the Thirty Tyrants. Because of their tyrannical measures, some Athenians organized to overthrow the Tyrants—and, indeed, they managed to do so briefly—until a Spartan request for aid from the Thirty arrived and a compromise was sought. When the Spartans left again, however, democrats seized the opportunity to kill the oligarchs and reclaim the government of Athens.


title: Socrates

text: The accusations against Socrates were initiated by a poet, Meletus, who asked for the death penalty in accordance with the charge of "asebeia". Other accusers were Anytus and Lycon. After a month or two, in late spring or early summer, the trial started and likely went on for most of one day. There were two main sources for the religion-based accusations. First, Socrates had rejected the anthropomorphism of traditional Greek religion by denying that the gods did bad things like humans do. Second, he seemed to believe in a "daimonion"—an inner voice with, as his accusers suggested, divine origin.


title: Socrates

text: Plato's "Apology" starts with Socrates answering the various rumours against him that have given rise to the indictment. First, Socrates defends himself against the rumour that he is an atheist naturalist philosopher, as portrayed in Aristophanes's "The Clouds"; or a sophist. Against the allegations of corrupting the youth, Socrates answers that he has never corrupted anyone intentionally, since corrupting someone would carry the risk of being corrupted back in return, and that would be illogical, since corruption is undesirable. On the second charge, Socrates asks for clarification. Meletus responds by repeating the accusation that Socrates is an atheist. Socrates notes the contradiction between atheism and worshipping false gods. He then claims that he is "God's gift" to the Athenians, since his activities ultimately benefit Athens; thus, in condemning him to death, Athens itself will be the greatest loser. After that, he says that even though no human can reach wisdom, seeking it is the best thing someone can do, implying money and prestige are not as precious as commonly thought.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates was given the chance to offer alternative punishments for himself after being found guilty. He could have requested permission to flee Athens and live in exile, but he did not do so. Instead, according to Plato, he requested that a fine should be imposed on him and also suggested that free meals should be provided for him daily in recognition of his worth to Athens. According to Xenophon, however, Socrates made no proposals. The jurors favoured the death penalty by making him drink a cup of hemlock (a poisonous liquid). In return, Socrates warned jurors and Athenians that criticism of them by his many disciples was inescapable, unless they became good men. After a delay caused by Athenian religious ceremonies, Socrates spent his last day in prison. His friends visited him and offered him an opportunity to escape, which he declined.


title: Socrates

text: The question of what motivated Athenians to convict Socrates remains controversial among scholars. There are two theories. The first is that Socrates was convicted on religious grounds; the second, that he was accused and convicted for political reasons. Another, more recent, interpretation synthesizes the religious and political theories, arguing that religion and state were not separate in ancient Athens.


title: Socrates

text: The argument for religious persecution is supported by the fact that Plato's and Xenophon's accounts of the trial mostly focus on the charges of impiety. In those accounts, Socrates is portrayed as making no effort to dispute the fact that he did not believe in the Athenian gods. Against this argument stands the fact that many skeptics and atheist philosophers during this time were not prosecuted. According to the argument for political persecution, Socrates was targeted because he was perceived as a threat to democracy. It was true that Socrates did not stand for democracy during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants and that most of his pupils were against the democrats. The case for it being a political persecution is usually challenged by the existence of an amnesty that was granted to Athenian citizens in 403 BC to prevent escalation to civil war after the fall of the Thirty. However, as the text from Socrates's trial and other texts reveal, the accusers could have fuelled their rhetoric using events prior to 403 BC.


title: Socrates

text: A fundamental characteristic of Plato's Socrates is the Socratic method, or the method of refutation ("elenchus"). It is most prominent in the early works of Plato, such as "Apology", "Crito", "Gorgias", "Republic I", and others. The typical "elenchus" proceeds as follows. Socrates initiates a discussion about a topic with a known expert on the subject, usually in the company of some young men and boys, and by dialogue proves the expert's beliefs and arguments to be contradictory. Socrates initiates the dialogue by asking his interlocutor for a definition of the subject. As he asks more questions, the interlocutor's answers eventually contradict the first definition. The conclusion is that the expert did not really know the definition in the first place. The interlocutor may come up with a different definition. That new definition, in turn, comes under the scrutiny of Socratic questioning. With each round of question and answer, Socrates and his interlocutor hope to approach the truth. More often, they continue to reveal their ignorance. Since the interlocutors' definitions most commonly represent the mainstream opinion on a matter, the discussion places doubt on the common opinion.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates also tests his own opinions through the Socratic method. Thus Socrates does not teach a fixed philosophical doctrine. Rather, he acknowledges his own ignorance while searching for truth with his pupils and interlocutors.


title: Socrates

text: Scholars have questioned the validity and the exact nature of the Socratic method, or indeed if there even "was" a Socratic method. In 1982, the scholar of ancient philosophy Gregory Vlastos claimed that the Socratic method could not be used to establish the truth or falsehood of a proposition. Rather, Vlastos argued, it was a way to show that an interlocutor's beliefs were inconsistent. There have been two main lines of thought regarding this view, depending on whether it is accepted that Socrates is seeking to prove a claim wrong. According to the first line of thought, known as the constructivist approach, Socrates indeed seeks to refute a claim by this method, and the method helps in reaching affirmative statements. The non-constructivist approach holds that Socrates merely wants to establish the inconsistency between the premises and conclusion of the initial argument.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates starts his discussions by prioritizing the search for definitions. In most cases, Socrates initiates his discourse with an expert on a subject by seeking a definition—by asking, for example, what virtue, goodness, justice, or courage is. To establish a definition, Socrates first gathers clear examples of a virtue and then seeks to establish what they had in common. According to Guthrie, Socrates lived in an era when sophists had challenged the meaning of various virtues, questioning their substance; Socrates's quest for a definition was an attempt to clear the atmosphere from their radical skepticism.


title: Socrates

text: Some scholars have argued that Socrates does not endorse the priority of definition as a principle, because they have identified cases where he does not do so. Some have argued that this priority of definition comes from Plato rather than Socrates. Philosopher Peter Geach, accepting that Socrates endorses the priority of definition, finds the technique fallacious. Αccording to Geach, one may know a proposition even if one cannot define the terms in which the proposition is stated.


title: Socrates

text: Plato's Socrates often claims that he is aware of his own lack of knowledge, especially when discussing ethical concepts such as arete (i.e., goodness, courage) since he does not know the nature of such concepts. For example, during his trial, with his life at stake, Socrates says: "I thought Evenus a happy man, if he really possesses this art ("technē"), and teaches for so moderate a fee. Certainly I would pride and preen myself if I knew ("epistamai") these things, but I do not know ("epistamai") them, gentlemen". In some of Plato's dialogues, Socrates appears to credit himself with some knowledge, and can even seem strongly opinionated for a man who professes his own ignorance.


title: Socrates

text: There are varying explanations of the Socratic inconsistency (other than that Socrates is simply being inconsistent). One explanation is that Socrates is being either ironic or modest for pedagogical purposes: he aims to let his interlocutor to think for himself rather than guide him to a prefixed answer to his philosophical questions. Another explanation is that Socrates holds different interpretations of the meaning of "knowledge". Knowledge, for him, might mean systematic understanding of an ethical subject, on which Socrates firmly rejects any kind of mastery; or might refer to lower-level cognition, which Socrates may accept that he possesses. In any case, there is consensus that Socrates accepts that acknowledging one's lack of knowledge is the first step towards wisdom.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates is known for disavowing knowledge, a claim encapsulated in the saying "I know that I know nothing". This is often attributed to Socrates on the basis of a statement in Plato's "Apology", though the same view is repeatedly found elsewhere in Plato's early writings on Socrates. In other statements, though, he implies or even claims that he does have knowledge. For example, in Plato's "Apology" Socrates says: "...but that to do injustice and disobey my superior, god or man, this I "know" to be evil and base..." ("Apology", 29b6–7). In his debate with Callicles, he says: "...I "know" well that if you will agree with me on those things which my soul believes, those things will be the very truth..."


title: Socrates

text: Whether Socrates genuinely thought he lacked knowledge or merely feigned a belief in his own ignorance remains a matter of debate. A common interpretation is that he was indeed feigning modesty. According to Norman Gulley, Socrates did this to entice his interlocutors to speak with him. On the other hand, Terence Irwin claims that Socrates's words should be taken literally.


title: Socrates

text: Gregory Vlastos argues that there is enough evidence to refute both claims. On his view, for Socrates, there are two separate meanings of "knowledge": Knowledge-C and Knowledge-E (C stands for "certain", and E stands for "elenchus", i.e. the Socratic method). Knowledge-C is something unquestionable whereas Knowledge-E is the knowledge derived from Socrates's "elenchus". Thus, Socrates speaks the truth when he says he knows-C something, and he is also truthful when saying he knows-E, for example that it is evil for someone to disobey his superiors, as he claims in "Apology". Not all scholars have agreed with this semantic dualism. James H. Lesher has argued that Socrates claimed in various dialogues that one word is linked to one meaning (i.e. in "Hippias Major", "Meno", and "Laches"). Lesher suggests that although Socrates claimed that he had no knowledge about the nature of virtues, he thought that in some cases, people can know some ethical propositions.


title: Socrates

text: There is a widespread assumption that Socrates was an ironist, mostly based on the depiction of Socrates by Plato and Aristotle. Socrates's irony is so subtle and slightly humorous that it often leaves the reader wondering if Socrates is making an intentional pun. Plato's "Euthyphro" is filled with Socratic irony. The story begins when Socrates is meeting with Euthyphro, a man who has accused his own father of murder. When Socrates first hears the details of the story, he comments, "It is not, I think, any random person who could do this [prosecute one's father] correctly, but surely one who is already far progressed in wisdom". When Euthyphro boasts about his understanding of divinity, Socrates responds that it is "most important that I become your student". Socrates is commonly seen as ironic when using praise to flatter or when addressing his interlocutors.


title: Socrates

text: Scholars are divided on why Socrates uses irony. According to an opinion advanced since the Hellenistic period, Socratic irony is a playful way to get the audience's attention. Another line of thought holds that Socrates conceals his philosophical message with irony, making it accessible only to those who can separate the parts of his statements which are ironic from those which are not. Gregory Vlastos has identified a more complex pattern of irony in Socrates. On Vlastos's view, Socrates's words have a double meaning, both ironic and not. One example is when he denies having knowledge. Vlastos suggests that Socrates is being ironic when he says he has no knowledge (where "knowledge" means a lower form of cognition); while, according to another sense of "knowledge", Socrates is serious when he says he has no knowledge of ethical matters. This opinion is not shared by many other scholars.


title: Socrates

text: For Socrates, the pursuit of "eudaimonia" motivates all human action, directly or indirectly. Virtue and knowledge are linked, in Socrates's view, to "eudaimonia", but how closely he considered them to be connected is still debated. Some argue that Socrates thought that virtue and "eudaimonia" are identical. According to another view, virtue serves as a means to "eudaimonia" (the "identical" and "sufficiency" theses, respectively). Another point of debate is whether, according to Socrates, people desire what is in fact good—or, rather, simply what they "perceive" as good.


title: Socrates

text: Moral intellectualism refers to the prominent role Socrates gave to knowledge. He believed that all virtue was based on knowledge (hence Socrates is characterized as a "virtue" intellectualist). He also believed that humans were guided by the cognitive power to comprehend what they desire, while diminishing the role of impulses (a view termed "motivational" intellectualism). In Plato's "Protagoras" (345c4–e6), Socrates implies that "no one errs willingly", which has become the hallmark of Socratic virtue intellectualism. In Socratic moral philosophy, priority is given to the intellect as being the way to live a good life; Socrates deemphasizes irrational beliefs or passions. Plato's dialogues that support Socrates's "intellectual motivism"—as this thesis is named—are mainly the "Gorgias" (467c–8e, where Socrates discusses the actions of a tyrant that do not benefit him) and "Meno" (77d–8b, where Socrates explains to Meno his view that no one wants bad things, unless they do not know what is good and bad in the first place). Scholars have been puzzled by Socrates's view that "akrasia" (acting because of one's irrational passions, contrary to one's knowledge or beliefs) is impossible. Most believe that Socrates left no space for irrational desires, although some claim that Socrates acknowledged the existence of irrational motivations, but denied they play a primary role in decision-making.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates's religious nonconformity challenged the views of his times and his critique reshaped religious discourse for the coming centuries. In Ancient Greece, organized religion was fragmented, celebrated in a number of festivals for specific gods, such as the City Dionysia, or in domestic rituals, and there were no sacred texts. Religion intermingled with the daily life of citizens, who performed their personal religious duties mainly with sacrifices to various gods. Whether Socrates was a practicing man of religion or a 'provocateur atheist' has been a point of debate since ancient times; his trial included impiety accusations, and the controversy hasn't yet ceased.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates discusses divinity and the soul mostly in "Alcibiades", "Euthyphro", and "Apology". In "Alcibiades" Socrates links the human soul to divinity, concluding "Then this part of her resembles God, and whoever looks at this, and comes to know all that is divine, will gain thereby the best knowledge of himself." His discussions on religion always fall under the lens of his rationalism. Socrates, in "Euthyphro", reaches a conclusion which takes him far from the age's usual practice: he considers sacrifices to the gods to be useless, especially when they are driven by the hope of receiving a reward in return. Instead he calls for philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge to be the principal way of worshipping the gods. His rejection of traditional forms of piety, connecting them to self-interest, implied that Athenians should seek religious experience by self-examination.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates argued that the gods were inherently wise and just, a perception far from traditional religion at that time. In "Euthyphro", the Euthyphro dilemma arises. Socrates questions his interlocutor about the relationship between piety and the will of a powerful god: Is something good because it is the will of this god, or is it the will of this god because it is good? In other words, does piety follow the good, or the god? The trajectory of Socratic thought contrasts with traditional Greek theology, which took "lex talionis" (the eye for an eye principle) for granted. Socrates thought that goodness is independent from gods, and gods must themselves be pious.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates affirms a belief in gods in Plato's "Apology", where he says to the jurors that he acknowledges gods more than his accusers. For Plato's Socrates, the existence of gods is taken for granted; in none of his dialogues does he probe whether gods exist or not. In "Apology", a case for Socrates being agnostic can be made, based on his discussion of the great unknown after death, and in "Phaedo" (the dialogue with his students in his last day) Socrates gives expression to a clear belief in the immortality of the soul. He also believed in oracles, divinations and other messages from gods. These signs did not offer him any positive belief on moral issues; rather, they were predictions of unfavorable future events.


title: Socrates

text: In Xenophon's "Memorabilia", Socrates constructs an argument close to the contemporary teleological intelligent-design argument. He claims that since there are many features in the universe that exhibit "signs of forethought" (e.g., eyelids), a divine creator must have created the universe. He then deduces that the creator should be omniscient and omnipotent and also that it created the universe for the advance of humankind, since humans naturally have many abilities that other animals do not. At times, Socrates speaks of a single deity, while at other times he refers to plural "gods". This has been interpreted to mean that he either believed that a supreme deity commanded other gods, or that various gods were parts, or manifestations, of this single deity.


title: Socrates

text: It has been a source of puzzlement how Socrates's religious beliefs can be consistent with his strict adherence to rationalism. Philosophy professor Mark McPherran suggests that Socrates interpreted every divine sign through secular rationality for confirmation. Professor of ancient philosophy A. A. Long suggests that it is anachronistic to suppose that Socrates believed the religious and rational realms were separate.


title: Socrates

text: In several texts (e.g., Plato's "Euthyphro" 3b5; "Apology" 31c–d; Xenophon's "Memorabilia" 1.1.2) Socrates claims he hears a daimōnic sign—an inner voice heard usually when he was about to make a mistake. Socrates gave a brief description of this daimonion at his trial ("Apology" 31c–d): "...The reason for this is something you have heard me frequently mention in different places—namely, the fact that I experience something divine and daimonic, as Meletus has inscribed in his indictment, by way of mockery. It started in my childhood, the occurrence of a particular voice. Whenever it occurs, it always deters me from the course of action I was intending to engage in, but it never gives me positive advice. It is this that has opposed my practicing politics, and I think its doing so has been absolutely fine." Modern scholarship has variously interpreted this Socratic "daimōnion" as a rational source of knowledge, an impulse, a dream or even a paranormal experience felt by an ascetic Socrates.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates's theory of virtue states that all virtues are essentially one, since they are a form of knowledge. For Socrates, the reason a person is not good is because they lack knowledge. Since knowledge is united, virtues are united as well. Another famous dictum— "no one errs willingly"—also derives from this theory. In "Protagoras", Socrates argues for the unity of virtues using the example of courage: if someone knows what the relevant danger is, they can undertake a risk. Aristotle comments: " ... Socrates the elder thought that the end of life was knowledge of virtue, and he used to seek for the definition of justice, courage, and each of the parts of virtue, and this was a reasonable approach, since he thought that all virtues were sciences, and that as soon as one knew [for example] justice, he would be just..."


title: Socrates

text: Some texts suggest that Socrates had love affairs with Alcibiades and other young persons; others suggest that Socrates's friendship with young boys sought only to improve them and were not sexual. In "Gorgias", Socrates claims he was a dual lover of Alcibiades and philosophy, and his flirtatiousness is evident in "Protagoras", "Meno" (76a–c) and "Phaedrus" (227c–d). However, the exact nature of his relationship with Alcibiades is not clear; Socrates was known for his self-restraint, while Alcibiades admits in the "Symposium" that he had tried to seduce Socrates but failed.


title: Socrates

text: The Socratic theory of love is mostly deduced from "Lysis", where Socrates discusses love at a wrestling school in the company of Lysis and his friends. They start their dialogue by investigating parental love and how it manifests with respect to the freedom and boundaries that parents set for their children. Socrates concludes that if Lysis is utterly useless, nobody will love him—not even his parents. While most scholars believe this text was intended to be humorous, it has also been suggested that "Lysis" shows Socrates held an egoistic view of love, according to which we only love people who are useful to us in some way. Other scholars disagree with this view, arguing that Socrates's doctrine leaves room for non-egoistic love for a spouse; still others deny that Socrates suggests any egoistic motivation at all. In "Symposium", Socrates argues that children offer the false impression of immortality to their parents, and this misconception yields a form of unity among them. Scholars also note that for Socrates, love is rational.


title: Socrates

text: It is notable that Socrates, who claims to know only that he does not know, makes an exception (in Plato's "Symposium"), where he says he will tell the truth about Love, which he learned from a 'clever woman'. Classicist Armand D'Angour has made the case that Socrates was in his youth close to Aspasia, and that Diotima, to whom Socrates attributes his understanding of love in "Symposium", is based on her; however, it is also possible that Diotima really existed.


title: Socrates

text: While Socrates was involved in public political and cultural debates, it is hard to define his exact political philosophy. In Plato's "Gorgias," he tells Callicles: "I believe that I'm one of a few Athenians—so as not to say I'm the only one, but the only one among our contemporaries—to take up the true political craft and practice the true politics. This is because the speeches I make on each occasion do not aim at gratification but at what's best." His claim illustrates his aversion for the established democratic assemblies and procedures such as voting—since Socrates saw politicians and rhetoricians as using tricks to mislead the public. He never ran for office or suggested any legislation. Rather, he aimed to help the city flourish by "improving" its citizens. As a citizen, he abided by the law. He obeyed the rules and carried out his military duty by fighting wars abroad. His dialogues, however, make little mention of contemporary political decisions, such as the Sicilian Expedition.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates spent his time conversing with citizens, among them powerful members of Athenian society, scrutinizing their beliefs and bringing the contradictions of their ideas to light. Socrates believed he was doing them a favor since, for him, politics was about shaping the moral landscape of the city through philosophy rather than electoral procedures. There is a debate over where Socrates stood in the polarized Athenian political climate, which was divided between oligarchs and democrats. While there is no clear textual evidence, one widely held theory holds that Socrates leaned towards democracy: he disobeyed the one order that the oligarchic government of the Thirty Tyrants gave him; he respected the laws and political system of Athens (which were formulated by democrats); and, according to this argument, his affinity for the ideals of democratic Athens was a reason why he did not want to escape prison and the death penalty. On the other hand, there is some evidence that Socrates leaned towards oligarchy: most of his friends supported oligarchy, he was contemptuous of the opinion of the many and was critical of the democratic process, and "Protagoras" shows some anti-democratic elements. A less mainstream argument suggests that Socrates favoured democratic republicanism, a theory that prioritizes active participation in public life and concern for the city.


title: Socrates

text: Yet another suggestion is that Socrates endorsed views in line with liberalism, a political ideology formed in the Age of Enlightenment. This argument is mostly based on "Crito" and "Apology", where Socrates talks about the mutually beneficial relationship between the city and its citizens. According to Socrates, citizens are morally autonomous and free to leave the city if they wish—but, by staying within the city, they also accept the laws and the city's authority over them. On the other hand, Socrates has been seen as the first proponent of civil disobedience. Socrates's strong objection to injustice, along with his refusal to serve the Thirty Tyrants' order to arrest Leon, are suggestive of this line. As he says in "Critias", "One ought never act unjustly, even to repay a wrong that has been done to oneself." Ιn the broader picture, Socrates's advice would be for citizens to follow the orders of the state, unless, after much reflection, they deem them to be unjust.


title: Socrates

text: Socrates's impact was immense in philosophy after his death. With the exception of the Epicureans and the Pyrrhonists, almost all philosophical currents after Socrates traced their roots to him: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, the Cynics, and the Stoics. Interest in Socrates kept increasing until the third century AD. The various schools differed in response to fundamental questions such as the purpose of life or the nature of "arete" (virtue), since Socrates had not handed them an answer, and therefore, philosophical schools subsequently diverged greatly in their interpretation of his thought. He was considered to have shifted the focus of philosophy from a study of the natural world, as was the case for pre-Socratic philosophers, to a study of human affairs.


title: Socrates

text: Immediate followers of Socrates were his pupils, Euclid of Megara, Aristippus, and Antisthenes, who drew differing conclusions among themselves and followed independent trajectories. The full doctrines of Socrates's pupils are difficult to reconstruct. Antisthenes had a profound contempt of material goods. According to him, virtue was all that mattered. Diogenes and the Cynics continued this line of thought. On the opposite end, Aristippus endorsed the accumulation of wealth and lived a luxurious life. After leaving Athens and returning to his home city of Cyrene, he founded the Cyrenaic philosophical school which was based on hedonism, and endorsing living an easy life with physical pleasures. His school passed to his grandson, bearing the same name. There is a dialogue in Xenophon's work in which Aristippus claims he wants to live without wishing to rule or be ruled by others. In addition, Aristippus maintained a skeptical stance on epistemology, claiming that we can be certain only of our own feelings. This view resonates with the Socratic understanding of ignorance. Euclid was a contemporary of Socrates. After Socrates's trial and death, he left Athens for the nearby town of Megara, where he founded a school, named the Megarians. His theory was built on the pre-Socratic monism of Parmenides. Euclid continued Socrates's thought, focusing on the nature of virtue.


title: Socrates

text: The Stoics relied heavily on Socrates. They applied the Socratic method as a tool to avoid inconsistencies. Their moral doctrines focused on how to live a smooth life through wisdom and virtue. The Stoics assigned virtue a crucial role in attaining happiness and also prioritized the relation between goodness and ethical excellence, all of which echoed Socratic thought. At the same time, the philosophical current of Platonism claimed Socrates as its predecessor, in ethics and in its theory of knowledge. Arcesilaus, who became the head of the Academy about 80 years after its founding by Plato, radically changed the Academy's doctrine to what is now known as Academic Skepticism, centered on the Socratic philosophy of ignorance. The Academic Skeptics competed with the Stoics over who was Socrates's true heir with regard to ethics. While the Stoics insisted on knowledge-based ethics, Arcesilaus relied on Socratic ignorance. The Stoics' reply to Arcesilaus was that Socratic ignorance was part of Socratic irony (they themselves disapproved the use of irony), an argument that ultimately became the dominant narrative of Socrates in later antiquity.


title: Socrates

text: While Aristotle considered Socrates an important philosopher, Socrates was not a central figure in Aristotelian thought. One of Aristotle's pupils, Aristoxenus even authored a book detailing Socrates's scandals.


title: Socrates

text: The Epicureans were antagonistic to Socrates. They attacked him for superstition, criticizing his belief in his "daimonion" and his regard for the oracle at Delphi. They also criticized Socrates for his character and various faults, and focusing mostly on his irony, which was deemed inappropriate for a philosopher and unseemly for a teacher.


title: Socrates

text: The Pyrrhonists were also antagonistic to Socrates, accusing him of being a prater about ethics, who engaged in mock humility, and who sneered at and mocked people.


title: Socrates

text: Socratic thought found its way to the Islamic Middle East alongside that of Aristotle and the Stoics. Plato's works on Socrates, as well as other ancient Greek literature, were translated into Arabic by early Muslim scholars such as Al-Kindi, Jabir ibn Hayyan, and the Muʿtazila. For Muslim scholars, Socrates was hailed and admired for combining his ethics with his lifestyle, perhaps because of the resemblance in this regard with Muhammad's personality. Socratic doctrines were altered to match Islamic faith: according to Muslim scholars, Socrates made arguments for monotheism and for the temporality of this world and rewards in the next life. His influence in the Arabic-speaking world continues to the present day.


title: Socrates

text: In medieval times, little of Socrates's thought survived in the Christian world as a whole; however, works on Socrates from Christian scholars such as Lactantius, Eusebius and Augustine were maintained in the Byzantine Empire, where Socrates was studied under a Christian lens. After the fall of Constantinople, many of the texts were brought back into the world of Roman Christianity, where they were translated into Latin. Overall, ancient Socratic philosophy, like the rest of classical literature before the Renaissance, was addressed with skepticism in the Christian world at first.


title: Socrates

text: During the early Italian Renaissance, two different narratives of Socrates developed. On the one hand, the humanist movement revived interest in classical authors. Leonardo Bruni translated many of Plato's Socratic dialogues, while his pupil Giannozzo Manetti authored a well-circulated book, a "Life of Socrates". They both presented a civic version of Socrates, according to which Socrates was a humanist and a supporter of republicanism. Bruni and Manetti were interested in defending secularism as a non-sinful way of life; presenting a view of Socrates that was aligned with Christian morality assisted their cause. In doing so, they had to censor parts of his dialogues, especially those which appeared to promote homosexuality or any possibility of pederasty (with Alcibiades), or which suggested that the Socratic "daimon" was a god. On the other hand, a different picture of Socrates was presented by Italian Neoplatonists, led by the philosopher and priest Marsilio Ficino. Ficino was impressed by Socrates's un-hierarchical and informal way teaching, which he tried to replicate. Ficino portrayed a holy picture of Socrates, finding parallels with the life of Jesus Christ. For Ficino and his followers, Socratic ignorance signified his acknowledgement that all wisdom is God-given (through the Socratic "daimon").


title: Socrates

text: In early modern France, Socrates's image was dominated by features of his private life rather than his philosophical thought, in various novels and satirical plays. Some thinkers used Socrates to highlight and comment upon controversies of their own era, like Théophile de Viau who portrayed a Christianized Socrates accused of atheism, while for Voltaire, the figure of Socrates represented a reason-based theist. Michel de Montaigne wrote extensively on Socrates, linking him to rationalism as a counterweight to contemporary religious fanatics.


title: Socrates

text: In the 18th century, German idealism revived philosophical interest in Socrates, mainly through Hegel's work. For Hegel, Socrates marked a turning point in the history of humankind by the introduction of the principle of free subjectivity or self-determination. While Hegel hails Socrates for his contribution, he nonetheless justifies the Athenian court, for Socrates's insistence upon self-determination would be destructive of the "Sittlichkeit" (a Hegelian term signifying the way of life as shaped by the institutions and laws of the State). Also, Hegel sees the Socratic use of rationalism as a continuation of Protagoras' focus on human reasoning (as encapsulated in the motto "homo mensura": "man is the measure of all things"), but modified: it is our reasoning that can help us reach objective conclusions about reality. Also, Hegel considered Socrates as a predecessor of later ancient skeptic philosophers, even though he never clearly explained why.


title: Socrates

text: Søren Kierkegaard considered Socrates his teacher, and authored his master's thesis on him, "The Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates". There he argues that Socrates is not a moral philosopher but is purely an ironist. He also focused on Socrates's avoidance of writing: for Kierkegaard, this avoidance was a sign of humility, deriving from Socrates's acceptance of his ignorance. Not only did Socrates not write anything down, according to Kierkegaard, but his contemporaries misconstrued and misunderstood him as a philosopher, leaving us with an almost impossible task in comprehending Socratic thought. Only Plato's "Apology" was close to the real Socrates, in Kierkegaard's view. In his writings, he revisited Socrates quite frequently; in his later work, Kierkegaard found ethical elements in Socratic thought. Socrates was not only a subject of study for Kierkegaard, he was a model as well: Kierkegaard paralleled his task as a philosopher to Socrates. He writes, "The only analogy I have before me is Socrates; my task is a Socratic task, to audit the definition of what it is to be a Christian", with his aim being to bring society closer to the Christian ideal, since he believed that Christianity had become a formality, void of any Christian essence. Kierkegaard denied being a Christian, as Socrates denied possessing any knowledge.


title: Socrates

text: Friedrich Nietzsche resented Socrates's contributions to Western culture. In his first book, "The Birth of Tragedy" (1872), Nietzsche held Socrates responsible for what he saw as the deterioration of ancient Greek civilization during the 4th century BC and after. For Nietzsche, Socrates turned the scope of philosophy from pre-Socratic naturalism to rationalism and intellectualism. He writes: "I conceive of [the Presocratics] as precursors to a reformation of the Greeks: but not of Socrates"; "with Empedocles and Democritus the Greeks were well on their way towards taking the correct measure of human existence, its unreason, its suffering; they never reached this goal, thanks to Socrates". The effect, Nietzsche proposed, was a perverse situation that had continued down to his day: our culture is a Socratic culture, he believed. In a later publication, "The Twilight of the Idols" (1887), Nietzsche continued his offensive against Socrates, focusing on the arbitrary linking of reason to virtue and happiness in Socratic thinking. He writes: "I try to understand from what partial and idiosyncratic states the Socratic problem is to be derived: his equation of reason = virtue = happiness. It was with this absurdity of a doctrine of identity that he fascinated: ancient philosophy never again freed itself [from this fascination]". From the late 19th century until the early 20th, the most common explanation of Nietzsche's hostility towards Socrates was his anti-rationalism; he considered Socrates the father of European rationalism. In the mid-20th century, philosopher Walter Kaufmann published an article arguing that Nietzsche admired Socrates. Current mainstream opinion is that Nietzsche was ambivalent towards Socrates.


title: Socrates

text: Continental philosophers Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss and Karl Popper, after experiencing the horrors of World War II, amidst the rise of totalitarian regimes, saw Socrates as an icon of individual conscience. Arendt, in "Eichmann in Jerusalem" (1963), suggests that Socrates's constant questioning and self-reflection could prevent the banality of evil. Strauss considers Socrates's political thought as paralleling Plato's. He sees an elitist Socrates in Plato's "Republic" as exemplifying why the "polis" is not, and could not be, an ideal way of organizing life, since philosophical truths cannot be digested by the masses. Popper takes the opposite view: he argues that Socrates opposes Plato's totalitarian ideas. For Popper, Socratic individualism, along with Athenian democracy, imply Popper's concept of the "open society" as described in his "Open Society and Its Enemies" (1945).


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the "Voice of a Generation". Aguilera rose to stardom with her eponymous debut album, for which she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Her works, which incorporate feminism, sexuality, and domestic violence, have generated both critical praise and controversy, for which she is often cited as an influence by other artists.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: After appearing in television programs, Aguilera signed with RCA Records in 1998. Her debut album spawned three "Billboard" Hot 100 number-one singles — "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" — and earned her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Established as a bubblegum pop artist, she released her first Spanish record, "Mi Reflejo" (2000), which topped the "Billboard" Top Latin Albums for nineteen consecutive weeks. Aguilera assumed artistic control of her fourth studio album "Stripped" (2002). In the music video for its song "Dirrty", she sparked controversy for exploring her sexuality, leading to the departure of her teen idol image. However, further singles "Beautiful", "Fighter" and "Can't Hold Us Down" became top-ten singles in many countries, and she was named the most successful female artist of 2003.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Her fifth album, "Back to Basics" (2006), was met with favorable reviews and became the second of her career to debut atop of the "Billboard" 200. Its singles "Ain't No Other Man" and "Hurt" reached the top-ten positions in most countries. In 2010, Aguilera starred in "Burlesque" and contributed to its soundtrack. In subsequent years, she featured on the successful singles "Feel This Moment", "Say Something", and "Moves Like Jagger". The latter reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 making Aguilera one of the few artists to reach the top spot over three decades. Outside of her music, she was named a spokesperson for the World Food Program (WFP), served as a coach on reality competition show "The Voice" (2011–2016), and acted in the drama series "Nashville" (2015). In 2019, she headlined , her first residency show at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera is considered a pop culture icon and is generally described as a triple threat entertainer. With estimated sales over 90 million records, she is recognized as one of the world's best-selling music artists. In 2009, she was classified as the twentieth most successful artist of the 2000s by "Billboard". Throughout her career, she has accumulated numerous awards and accolades, including five Grammy Awards, two Latin Grammy Award, two MTV Video Music Awards (VMA), one "Billboard" Music Awards, one Guinness World Record, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was named a Disney Legend. Aguilera is regarded as one of the most influential Latin artists in the entertainment industry; in 2013, "Time" listed her among the 100 most influential people in the world, and was ranked as the eighth greatest woman in music by VH1. Furthermore, she has been deemed one of the greatest singers in contemporary pop music, ranked among the greatest of all time by magazines such as "Rolling Stone" and "Consequence of Sound".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Christina María Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York City on December 18, 1980, the eldest of two daughters to musician Shelly Loraine Kearns (née Fidler) and United States Army soldier Fausto Xavier Aguilera. Her father was born in Ecuador, and her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. The family moved frequently because of his military service, and lived in places including New Jersey, Texas, New York, and Japan. Aguilera said he was physically and emotionally abusive. She used music to escape her turbulent household. Following her parents' divorce when she was six years old, Aguilera, her younger sister Rachel, and her mother moved into her grandmother's home in Rochester, a suburb in the Pittsburgh area. Her mother later remarried to Jim Kearns and had a son with him named Michael. After years of estrangement, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her father in 2012.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: As a child, she was drawn to soul and blues records her grandmother bought and would practice singing, which earned her a reputation as "the little girl with the big voice" in her neighborhood. Aguilera aspired to be a singer, and won her first talent show at age eight with a rendition of Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". At age 10, she performed "A Sunday Kind of Love" on the competition show "Star Search", and was eliminated during the semi-final round. She performed the song again on KDKA-TV's "Wake Up with Larry Richert". During her youth in the Pittsburgh area, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, Pittsburgh Steelers football, and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games, and the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals. She attended Rochester Area School District in Rochester and Marshall Middle School near Wexford, and briefly attended North Allegheny Intermediate High School before being homeschooled to avoid being bullied.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for a position on the Disney Channel's "The Mickey Mouse Club", though did not meet its age requirements. She joined the television series two years later, which featured her performing musical numbers and sketch comedy until its cancellation in 1994. Fellow cast members included Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake. After the show ended, Aguilera moved to Japan and recorded her first song, "All I Wanna Do", a duet with Japanese singer Keizo Nakanishi. In 1998, Aguilera returned to the US to seek a recording contract. She approached RCA Records, who told her to contact Walt Disney Records instead because they were having financial difficulties. She sent her cover version of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" to Disney in hopes of being selected to record the theme song "Reflection" for their animated film "Mulan" (1998). Aguilera was ultimately selected to sing "Reflection"; the song was released in June 1998 and charted on the "Billboard" Adult Contemporary chart at number 15.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: After "Reflection", Aguilera attracted the attention of RCA's A&R Ron Fair and was signed with the label quickly afterwards. RCA was pressured by the contemporary teen pop craze evoked by Aguilera's peer Britney Spears, leading to the label rushing production of the album and aligning Aguilera to be part of the teen pop trend. They released the lead single from the album, "Genie in a Bottle", a trendy pop and R&B track, in June 1999. The single rose Aguilera to stardom, peaking atop the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and charts of 20 other countries. It has sold over seven million copies as of 2014. Aguilera's eponymous debut album followed in August 1999 and peaked at number one on the US "Billboard" 200. It was certified eight times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and had moved 17 million copies worldwide by 2010. The album produced three other singles: two US number-one singles "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)", and one US top-five single "I Turn to You", a cover of All-4-One's song. At the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in February 2000, Aguilera won Best New Artist.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera's two following studio albums, "Mi Reflejo" and "My Kind of Christmas", were released in September and October 2000, respectively. The former, a Spanish-language album consisting of re-recorded versions of tracks on Aguilera's debut album and several original songs, topped the "Billboard" Top Latin Albums for 19 consecutive weeks and was certified six times platinum in the Latin field by the RIAA. It won Best Female Pop Vocal Album at the 2nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2001. The latter contains covers of Christmas popular songs and a few original dance-pop tunes, and was certified platinum by the RIAA. In support of her albums, Aguilera embarked on her first concert tour, Christina Aguilera in Concert, from mid-2000 to early 2001. The tour visited North America, Europe, South America, and Japan. "Billboard" in 2000 recognized Aguilera as the Top Female Pop Act of the Year. Despite the successes, Aguilera was displeased with the music and image her manager Steve Kurtz had aligned her to, feeling unable to control her own image. In October 2000, she filed a fiduciary duty lawsuit against Kurtz for improper, undue, and inappropriate influence over her professional activities. After terminating Kurtz's services, RCA hired Irving Azoff as Aguilera's new manager.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera took her first steps in artistic control with a cover of Labelle's "Lady Marmalade" (1974) with Pink, Mýa, and Lil' Kim for the "Moulin Rouge!" soundtrack. RCA executives initially opposed to Aguilera recording "Lady Marmalade" because it was "too urban", but Aguilera ultimately managed to record the song of her own accord. The collaboration topped the "Billboard" Hot 100 for five weeks based on airplay alone, becoming the first airplay-only track in history to remain on the chart's top spot for more than one week. It won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. In mid-2001, Warlock Records released "Just Be Free", a compilation of demo tracks Aguilera recorded in 1994 and 1995, when she was looking forward to an album release after the end of "The Mickey Mouse Club". Aguilera filed a suit against Warlock Records and the album's producers to stop the release. The two parties came to a confidential settlement to release the album, in which Aguilera lent out her name, likeness, and image for an unspecified amount of damages.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: While working on her fourth studio album, Aguilera leaned toward a new artistic direction that she felt had more musical and lyrical depth. She named the album "Stripped" and explained that the title represented "a new beginning, a re-introduction of [herself] as a new artist in a way". Aguilera served as the album's executive producer and co-wrote most of the songs. To present her new persona, Aguilera released "Dirrty" as the lead single from the album in September 2002. Its accompanying music video generated controversy for depicting overtly sexual fetishes. Aguilera's new image presented in the video was widely criticized by the public that it began to overshadow her music. She defended her new image: "I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything and everybody around me. To be totally balls-out like that is, for me, the measure of a true artist."


title: Christina Aguilera

text: "Stripped" was released in October 2002. The album incorporated various genres from R&B and flamenco to rock, and lyrically revolves around the theme of self-esteem while also discussing sex and gender equality. It received mixed reviews from music critics, who viewed the employment of various musical styles incoherent, but praised Aguilera's vocals. The album peaked at number two on the "Billboard" 200 and has sold over 4.3 million copies in the US as of 2014. In the UK, the album has sold two million copies as of 2017 and was the second highest-selling album by an American female artist during the 2000s decade, behind Norah Jones with "Come Away with Me". By 2006, "Stripped" had sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The second single from the album, the ballad "Beautiful", received universal acclaim for its empowering lyrics about embracing inner beauty, and became an anthem for the LGBT community. It was the album's best-charting single, peaking at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in 2004.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: "Stripped" was followed by three other singles: "Fighter", "Can't Hold Us Down", and "The Voice Within", all of which were released in 2003 and entered the top 40 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. During promotion of "Stripped", Aguilera cultivated a new image by adopting the alter ego Xtina, dyeing her hair black, and debuting several tattoos and piercings. She co-headlined the Justified and Stripped Tour alongside Justin Timberlake from June to September 2003 in support of "Stripped" and Timberlake's album "Justified" (2002), before embarking on her solo Stripped Tour until December. Aguilera attended the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards in August, where she and Britney Spears kissed Madonna during their performance of "Like a Virgin" and "Hollywood", which received considerable media attention. She hosted the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards, where she won Best Female award, in November. "Billboard" announced Aguilera as the Top Female Pop Act of 2003.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 2004, Aguilera recorded a revised version of Rose Royce's "Car Wash" (1976) with Missy Elliott for the animated film "Shark Tale", in which she was a voice actress, and contributed vocals to Nelly's single "Tilt Ya Head Back". She was a featured artist on Herbie Hancock's 2005 cover of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" (1970), which was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2006. During this time, Aguilera started working on her follow-up studio album and embraced a new image inspired by figures of the Classic Hollywood era such as Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, and Mary Pickford, debuting blonde curly hair and retro-styled makeup.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera became engaged to marketing executive Jordan Bratman, who had dated her since 2003, in February 2005. They married on November 19, 2005, at an estate in Napa County, California. Aguilera released the lead single, "Ain't No Other Man", from her fifth studio album, "Back to Basics", in June 2006. The song, like the majority of the album, was inspired by Aguilera's marriage and incorporates elements of early 20th-century soul, blues, and jazz. It reached number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and has sold 1.7 million digital copies in the US as of 2014. Its music video saw Aguilera debuting her new alter ego, Baby Jane, inspired by the thriller film "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962).


title: Christina Aguilera

text: "Back to Basics" was released in August 2006. Aguilera described the record, a double album, as a "throwback" to jazz, blues, and soul music of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s that incorporates "a modern twist." She was much inspired by works of such classic blues and soul singers as Otis Redding, Millie Jackson, and Nina Simone during the recording sessions. "Back to Basics" received generally positive reviews from critics, who commented that the retro-oriented production complements Aguilera's vocals. It debuted atop the "Billboard" 200 and has sold 1.7 million copies in the US. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2007, Aguilera won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Ain't No Other Man" and performed "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" as a tribute to the late James Brown. "Back to Basics" was succeeded by two international top-ten singles: "Hurt" and "Candyman". Two other singles, "Slow Down Baby" and "Oh Mother", were released exclusively in Australia and Europe, respectively. In support of "Back to Basics", Aguilera embarked on the Back to Basics Tour, which ran from November 2006 to October 2008. With US$48.1 million grossed, the tour was the highest-grossing solo female tour of 2007.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In January 2008, a son named Max was born to Aguilera and Bratman. Later that year, she appeared in the Martin Scorsese documentary "Shine a Light" chronicling a two-day concert by The Rolling Stones in New York City's Beacon Theatre, in which Aguilera performs "Live with Me" alongside the band's lead vocalist Mick Jagger. In commemoration of a decade-long career in the music industry, Aguilera released a greatest hits album titled "" exclusively through Target in November 2008, in the US. In addition to previous singles, it includes four original electropop-oriented songs, two of which are remade versions of two previous singles. Aguilera commented that the newly recorded tracks' "futurisic, robotic sound" served as a preview for her follow-up studio album. "Keeps Gettin' Better" peaked at number nine on the "Billboard" 200, and its titular single "Keeps Gettin' Better" charted at number seven on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Billboard" in 2009 recognized Aguilera as the 20th most successful artist of the 2000s.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera began working on her sixth studio album during her pregnancy when she frequently listened to electronic music. The lead single from the album, "Not Myself Tonight", was released in March 2010. Heavily influenced by electronic genres, the song signaled Aguilera's musical experiments on her forthcoming album. It peaked at number 23 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The album, titled "Bionic", was released in June 2010. Categorized as a R&B-flavored futurepop album by critics, "Bionic" lyrically revolves around sexual themes while also discussing feminism. Critical reaction to the album was mixed; reviewers commended Aguilera's experimentation with new styles, but found it forced and unnatural. The album peaked at number three on the "Billboard" 200 and has sold 332,000 copies in the US as of 2019. The album spawned one other international single, "You Lost Me". Two other singles from the album, "Woohoo" featuring rapper Nicki Minaj and "I Hate Boys", were released in the US and Europe, and Australia, respectively.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera starred alongside Cher in the musical film "Burlesque". Written and directed by Steve Antin, the film was released in theaters in November 2010. Aguilera played Ali Rose, who quits her bar service job and moves to Los Angeles, where she aspires to be a performer in a burlesque club owned by Tess Scali (Cher). "Burlesque" grossed US$90 million in the box office and received mixed reviews from critics, who found it clichéd but praised Aguilera's acting. The film received a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 68th Golden Globe Awards. Aguilera recorded eight tracks for the film's ten-track , and Cher performed the other two. The soundtrack reached number 18 on the "Billboard" 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: At Super Bowl XLV in February 2011, Aguilera omitted a few lines while performing the US national anthem. She apologized for the incident, saying: "I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place." At the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, she performed alongside Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, Yolanda Adams, and Florence Welch in a segment that paid tribute to soul singer Aretha Franklin. Aguilera finalized her divorce from Jordan Bratman, from whom she had been separated since September 2010, on April 15, 2011. She concurrently started dating Matthew Rutler, an assistant on the set of "Burlesque". From April 2011 to December 2012, Aguilera served as a coach on the first three seasons of the television competition series "The Voice". During the first season, Aguilera was featured on Maroon 5's single "Moves like Jagger" upon the invitation of the group's lead vocalist and Aguilera's fellow "The Voice" coach Adam Levine. The single peaked atop the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Upon the third season of "The Voice" in September 2012, Aguilera released "Your Body" as the lead single from her seventh studio album. The single charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 34. The album, titled "Lotus", followed in November 2012. Aguilera described the record as a "rebirth" of herself after the personal struggles she overcame. Contemporary reviewers found the album generic and conventional, as opposed to Aguilera's previous experimental ventures. "Lotus" peaked at number seven on the "Billboard" 200 and has sold 303,000 copies in the US as of 2019. The album was supported by another single, "Just a Fool", featuring Aguilera's fellow "The Voice" coach Blake Shelton. In December 2012, Aguilera was replaced by Shakira for the fourth season of "The Voice" due to wanting to focus on solo projects. She returned for the fifth season in September 2013.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 2013, Aguilera scored three international top-ten singles. She was featured on rapper Pitbull's "Feel This Moment", which peaked at number eight on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. She subsequently appeared on Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández's cover of Miguel Gallardo's "Hoy Tengo Ganas de Ti" (1976), which earned a diamond certification in Mexico. Aguilera collaborated with A Great Big World on the ballad "Say Something", which earned a six-time platinum certification from the RIAA and won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Aguilera temporarily withdrew from "The Voice" for the sixth and seventh seasons, wishing to devote time to her family. She was respectively replaced by Shakira and Gwen Stefani during the two seasons. After her engagement to Matthew Rutler in February 2014 and the birth of their daughter Summer in August, she returned for the eighth season in October. Aguilera's last season on "The Voice" was the tenth, which she won with her contestant Alisan Porter in May 2016.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera played a recurring role of Jade St. John, a pop singer who tries to venture out to country music, on the third season of ABC's musical drama series "Nashville" in April 2015. Two promotional singles were released in order to support her appearance: "The Real Thing" and "Shotgun". She and her partner Rutler served as executive producers for a music-based game show, "Tracks", which aired on Spike TV in March 2016.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: On June 16, 2016, Aguilera released a song titled "Change" in which she dedicated to the victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting as well as Christina Grimmie, who was fatally shot in Orlando the day before the nightclub shooting. The proceeds were donated to the National Compassion Fund to benefit the victims' families. Her other works included recording a disco song titled "Telepathy" featuring Nile Rodgers for the soundtrack of Netflix original series "The Get Down" (2016), being a voice actress for "The Emoji Movie" (2017), and starring in the romantic science fiction film "Zoe" released in 2018. In November 2017, Aguilera performed a medley of "The Bodyguard" songs during the American Music Awards in honor to celebrate Whitney Houston.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera started working on her eighth studio album in the summer of 2015. "Accelerate" featuring Ty Dolla Sign and 2 Chainz was released as the lead single from the album on May 3, 2018. "Accelerate" became Aguilera's tenth number one song on the US "Billboard" Dance Songs Chart. It was followed by the promotional single "Twice" on May 11, and the second single "Fall in Line" featuring Demi Lovato on May 16. "Like I Do" featuring GoldLink was released on June 7, 2018, as the album's third and final single. "Liberation", was released on June 15, 2018, to favorable reviews. Aguilera heavily incorporated R&B and hip hop on the album to represent her desire for freedom from what she described as the "churning hamster wheel" that was "The Voice". "Liberation" debuted at number six on the "Billboard" 200 chart, becoming Aguilera's seventh US top-ten album. At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, "Fall in Line" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, while "Like I Do" received a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Performance. Aguilera starred in the romantic science fiction "Zoe", which was premiered at the Tribeca Film festival in April 2018, and was later released on July 20 by Amazon Studios.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: To promote "Liberation", Aguilera embarked on her first tour in 10 years, The Liberation Tour, which ran from September to November 2018. and a follow-up European tour, The X Tour, which ran from July to December 2019. She also headlined , a 25-date concert residency at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, beginning in May and concluding in March 2020. In October 2019, Aguilera released the soul and blues-inspired song "Haunted Heart" from the soundtrack of the computer-animated "Addams Family" film, and a month later "Fall on Me"—her second collaboration with A Great Big World—was premiered. On March 6, 2020, Aguilera released "Loyal Brave True" as a promotional single from the live action remake of "Mulan". "Rolling Stone" considered it Oscar-worthy while the song was also shortlisted as one of fifteen potential nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. She released a re-recording of "Reflection" on August 28.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In July 2021, Aguilera performed for two nights at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Both shows were sold out. In early October, Aguilera featured on the soundtrack for "The Addams Family 2" performing the theme song from the original series. That same week, Aguilera performed two medleys for ABC's Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary special with the songs "Reflection", "When You Wish Upon a Star" and "Loyal Brave True". Later that month, Aguilera performed "River Deep – Mountain High" at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a tribute for Tina Turner. On December 7, 2021, Aguilera was also honored with the first Music Icon award at the 47th People's Choice Awards.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In early 2021, Aguilera announced that her ninth studio album would be in Spanish, being her first in 22 years, following up "Mi Reflejo" (2000). She also announced that the album would be released in three parts, with the first being an extended play titled "La Fuerza", eventually released on January 21, 2022. Preceding the EP's release, on October 21, 2021, Aguilera released "Pa Mis Muchachas", with Becky G, Nicki Nicole and Nathy Peluso. Following that, on November 19, Aguilera debuted the second single, "Somos Nada", at the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards. On January 20, 2022, alongside the release of "La Fuerza", "Santo", a collaboration with Ozuna, was released as the third single. On May 6, 2022, a music video was released for "La Reina".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: On April 1, 2022, Aguilera performed at the Dubai Expo 2020 and closed the show with a cover of "A Million Dreams". In late May, Aguilera announced "La Tormenta", the second extended play apart of her then-forthcoming Spanish-language studio album and its next single, "Suéltame" with Argentine singer Tini. The EP was released on May 30, 2022, after being delayed due to the Robb Elementary School shooting. On May 31, 2022, her ninth studio album, "Aguilera", was released on streaming services and featured all the songs from "La Fuerza", "La Tormenta" and a new duet with Christian Nodal of "Cuando Me Dé la Gana". "Aguilera" went on to be nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Latin Pop Album and Best Immersive Audio Album and two Latin Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: On June 11, 2022, Aguilera performed at Los Angeles Pride alongside Mya, Kim Petras and Paris Hilton. During one segment of the show, Aguilera wore a strap-on dildo which received both praise and controversy. After her Los Angeles Pride headline show, Agulera embarked on a festival tour, EU/UK Summer Series, which included three festivals in Spain, one in Monaco, three arena shows in United Kingdom, and ended with Brighton Pride. During the show in Liverpool, Aguilera revealed that she had begun working on her tenth studio album, which would be in English.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: On September 29, 2022, Aguilera performed "La Reina" at the 2022 "Billboard" Latin Music Awards and received the "Billboard" Spirit of Hope Award. "La Luz", the third and final EP from "Aguilera", was released that same day and featured a spoken intro by Aguilera and "No Es Que Te Extrañe". On October 21, 2022, a deluxe 20th anniversary version of "Stripped" was released and featured two new tracks: "I Will Be" (the b-side to "Dirrty") and Benny Benassi's remix to "Beautiful". A new music video for "Beautiful" was also released. In November 2022, "Aguilera" won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards. She also performed "Cuando Me Dé la Gana" with Christian Nodal the same night. Aguilera was announced as a headliner of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival festival in Viña del Mar.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Critics have described Aguilera as a soprano, possessing a four-octave vocal range (from C to C♯), being also able to perform the whistle register. After the release of her self-titled debut album, Ron Fair — executive of RCA Records — said he was betting on Aguilera due to her "perfect intonation", considering that she had "pipes to be the next Barbra Streisand or Céline Dion". In an article for "Slate", Maura Johnston wrote that although Aguilera works in contemporary pop music, she has "an instrument that despite its ability to leap octaves has a low-end grounding similar to that possessed by opera singers". Highlighting her vocal versatility, Joan Anderman from "The Boston Globe" stated that she is "a real singer [...] blessed with the sort of breathtaking elasticity, golden tones, and sheer power that separate the divas from the dabblers". Aguilera is also recognized for making use of melisma in her songs and performances; Jon Pareles, writing for "The New York Times", analyzed her vocal abilities, emphasizing that "she can aim a note as directly as a missile or turn its trajectory into an aerobatic spiral of leaping, quivering, scalloping melismas". According to critics of "Rolling Stone" magazine, she has been modeled her "dramatic and melismatic technique" following steps of artists like Etta James.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Throughout her career, her vocal ability has yielded comparisons with other vocalists. As a result of her use of melismatic technique, David Browne associated her with Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, opining that the three form the team of the main proponents of this vocal modality. Sharing the same point of view, Sasha Frere-Jones, columnist for "The New Yorker", expressed that the technique was responsible for making her a "serious singer" without needing to "reincarnate the Sarah Vaughan". Steve Kipner — songwriter of "Genie in a Bottle" (1999) — considered that Aguilera has an "impressive" vocal dexterity, being able to "internalized all the riffs from Chaka Khan". Ann Powers, critic from "Los Angeles Times", said that Aguilera has a voice "purely powerful as that of Etta James [...] and she's moving toward the expressiveness of Gladys Knight, if not Aretha Franklin"; however, Powers notes that her vocal ability in ballad songs "connects her to Barbra Streisand", in addition to comparing her to Donna Summer when she works on songs influenced by rhythm and blues.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: However, Aguilera has also been criticized for the excessive use of melisma, as well as for oversinging in her songs and concerts. Writing for "The Huffington Post", John Eskow stated that she is the main proponent of "oversouling" and, despite recognizing that she has a "great instrument", opined that she "[doesn't] seem to know when to stop" with the use of "gratuitous and confected melisma". Lucy Davies, author at BBC Music, acknowledges that Aguilera has a "stunning voice", but indicated that "she could be more varied, simply by cutting out some of the 'y-e-e-eeeh, woah yeh's' in her songs". During the recording session of "Beautiful" (2002), the producer Linda Perry recalled that Aguilera had difficulty avoiding "vocal improvisations", stopping the recording every time she started to "[oversing]". Perry used the first take, saying, "She had a hard time accepting that as the final track. She's a perfectionist. She knows her voice really well and she knows what's going on. She can hear things that nobody else would catch." In an article for "Entertainment Weekly", Chris Willman opined that Aguilera's tendency to oversinging is due to the influence of Carey in her vocal abilities, noting "her slightly nasal tone that really only becomes obvious when she's overselling a song". VH1 writer Alexa Tietjen added that Aguilera "does tend to take it to the extreme at times [...] but Christina's vocal prowess is what's gotten her so far. Love them or hate them, the riffs are a part of who she is as a performer."


title: Christina Aguilera

text: According to Pier Dominguez, the domestic violence that Aguilera suffered during her childhood directly impacted her developing personality. However, the author states that unlike other children who witness the violence at home, she did not show feelings of guilt, emotional disturbance or aggressive behavior towards people; on the contrary, she created an "internal defense mechanism". On the other hand, Chloé Govan comments that the fact that Aguilera had been a victim of bullying at school made her an introverted and insecure person. Her mother's role was crucial in changing this situation, from whom she learned a "message about self-respect". Both authors agree that the learning had a strong influence on Aguilera's behavior in the transition to adulthood and exerted an impact on her early number-one singles in career, "Genie in a Bottle" and "What a Girl Wants" (both from 1999), the lyrics of which can refer to female empowerment.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera states that her biggest influence in music was Etta James: "[She's] my all-time favorite singer [...] I'll still be as raunchy as I wanna be, and I'll have her memory to back me up. She's what I want to be someday". As her first references to sing and perform, Aguilera credits the musical "The Sound of Music" (1959) and its lead actress, Julie Andrews; other of the main inspirations cited throughout her career includes Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Pearl Bailey, Beyoncé and the bands Red Hot Chili Peppers and Guns N' Roses. Furthermore, Aguilera recalls that she started singing her first songs in Spanish during her childhood because of her parents who constantly listened to works by Julio Iglesias. Other musical inspirations for Aguilera include Chavela Vargas and Vicente Fernández. Aguilera described her song "La Reina" from "Aguilera" (2022) as a respectful response to Fernández's "El Rey".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In recognition of what she describes as "positive female artists," Aguilera mentioned Madonna and Janet Jackson as artistic influences; in 2000, during an interview with "Jam! Canoe", she demonstrated her respect for both singers because they have "taken on the stage, the studio and the screen and have been successful in all three [...] artists who aren't afraid to take chances and be daring, experimental and sexy". Cher was also highlighted as one of Aguilera's source of inspiration in career as she remembered that saw her for the first time in the music video for "If I Could Turn Back Time" (1989), described as a "pivotal moment" that encouraged her as a "woman who's been there, done everything, before everyone else – who had the guts to do it". Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald were Aguilera's biggest influences on her vocal abilities as a child.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Some of her inspirations were portrayed in her artistic work; during the process of developing of her fifth studio album, "Back to Basics" (2006), Aguilera revealed that she had been influenced by music records from Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and Otis Redding. In the audiovisual work for "Candyman" (2007), she performed three different roles as an allusion to the interpretation of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by the group The Andrews Sisters on a brief appearance in the film "Buck Privates" (1941). Outside the music industry, she mentioned Marilyn Monroe as a reference, paying tribute to the actress in the music video for "Tilt Ya Head Back" (2004) and in movie "Burlesque" (2010) — where she recorded one of Monroe's most popular songs, "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", featured in musical "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953). Furthermore, Aguilera highlighted her inspirations in the art world, declaring to be an appreciator of works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Banksy.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Generally referred to as a pop artist, Aguilera has gone on to experiment with different musical genres throughout her career. She explains that she always tries to bring something new in her projects, "experiment with [her] voice" in addition to verbalizing her preference of working with more "obscure" collaborators and that she is not necessarily inclined to contact "the number-one chart-toppers in music" because of their popular demand. Reviewing her artistically, Alexis Petridis, columnist from "The Guardian", recognized that her "boldness in reinventing herself" was always "one of her most impressive facets," while Kelefa Sanneh from "The New York Times" highlighted her "decision to snub some of the big-name producers on whom pop stars often rely".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera's first two records, "Christina Aguilera" (1999) and "Mi Reflejo" (2000), were produced with an influsion of teen pop and dance-pop, with the latter also referencing her incentive through Latin music. She showed artistic growth with "Stripped" (2002) which was described as "substantive and mature [...] with pleasantly surprising depth," where she showed a range of genres, including R&B, hip hop, rock, and soul, and moved away from the teen niche. On her fifth studio album, "Back to Basics" (2006), Aguilera worked with several producers to create a "throwback with elements of old-school genres combined with a modern-day twist [and] hard-hitting beats". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic called the project an "artistic statement [...] a little crass and self-centered, but also catchy, exciting and unique".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 2010, Aguilera developed the soundtrack for "Burlesque", whose content was influenced by "Cabaret" (1972) and highlighted several songs that were redone as dance numbers in a fashion similar to "Moulin Rouge!" (2001). In the same year, "Bionic" saw Aguilera working with producers specialized in electronic music to create a future-pop project with elements taken from electro. Sam Lanksy from MTV Buzzworthy described it as "forward-thinking and even timeless," and praised its "subversive [and] ambient production". Aguilera explored and heavily incorporated electro-pop on "Lotus" (2012). Conversely, in 2018 she contributed with Kanye West and Anderson Paak on "Liberation", creating an album inspired by R&B and hip-hop styles which she had included in her previous material. Aguilera had noted that, "There's nothing like an amazing hip-hop beat. At the end of the day, I am a soul singer [...] singing soulfully is where my core, my root and my heart really is".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Regarding the themes of her music, Aguilera stated that she feels a "sense of responsibility" to reference portions of her personal life so that "people that can relate might not feel as alone in the circumstance". Most of her songs have covered themes of love, motherhood, marriage and fidelity. She has also deal with heavy topics such as domestic violence and abusive relationships. Sex has also played a huge part in Aguilera's music. In an interview with "People", she stated, "If I want to be sexual, it's for my own appreciation and enjoyment. That's why I like to talk about the fact that sometimes I am attracted to women. I appreciate their femininity and beauty". Recognized for being feministic in her music, Aguilera denounced the double standard for the first time in "Can't Hold Us Down" (2002), explaining that men are applauded for their sexual behaviors, while women who behave in a similar fashion are disdained. Writing for "The Guardian", Hermione Hoby noted that she "incites a sisterly spirit of collaboration [and] not shy of the odd feministic declaration herself".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera has reinvented her public image numerous times during her career. Early in her career, she was marketed as a bubblegum pop singer due to the genre's high financial return in the late 1990s, becoming a teen idol. "Stereogum" wrtier Tom Breihan noted that Aguilera "thought of herself primarily as a [...] young Mariah Carey-type, but her A&R rep Ron Fair had instead sent [her] into the pop zeitgeist" of the times. However, she was accused of cultivating a sexual image, attracting criticism regarding her revealing clothes; in an interview with MTV News, Debbie Gibson accused her of "influencing girls out there wearing less and less", considering that "she lives and breathes the sexual image". In response to negative comments, Aguilera stated: "Just because I have a certain image, everyone wants me to be this role model. But nobody is perfect, and nobody can live up to that". Furthermore, her music and image received comparisons to Britney Spears. David Browne, author from "Entertainment Weekly", noted that she was "a good girl pretending to be bad" when compared to Spears' music and image. In contrast, Christopher J. Farley of "Time" considered her a more impressive artist than Spears. Megan Turner from "New York Post" compared the "battle" between both artists in the media with the previous one between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones; however, she highlighted the difference in them, opining that "while Britney has a va-va-voom sexuality [...] Aguilera had charm and a youthful appeal". "Bustle" writer James Tison labelled Aguilera a "diva" saying she "mastered being one in the best way possible". He added that "one of her best diva qualities is her willingness to embrace her own sexuality".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: In 2002, Aguilera introduced her alter ego Xtina, for which she adopted increasingly provocative and extravagant looks. During this period, she dyed her hair black, debuted body piercings and photographed nude for several publications. While analyzing her new visual, "Vice" and "Rolling Stone" magazines wrote that her new clothes echoed as if she were participating in the "Girls Gone Wild" franchise. On the other hand, she reinforced her new visual direction by dressing up as a nun during a performance of "Dirrty" (2002) accompanied by a choir and undressed to reveal what she would wear underneath to serving as the host of the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards. In a review of her persona, author Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic opined that Aguilera reached "maturity with transparent sexuality and pounding sounds of nightclubs". Writing for "The Daily Telegraph", Adam White was more positive about her image and recognized that her "embracing of an overtly sexual image in the wake of adolescent stardom was a tried and tested route to adult success".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Under a new persona named Baby Jane — a reference to "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) — Aguilera again transformed her public image in 2006; sticking to the platinum blonde in her hair, she started to dress inspired by actresses from Old Hollywood. However, in 2010, her new looks were highlighted in the international media for comparisons with those used by Lady Gaga. After gaining weight in 2012, she was criticized by several publications; in the following year, she received favorable media attention after a significant weight loss. In the March 2018 edition of "Paper", she appeared without makeup and photographic manipulation, receiving praise and attracting attention to artists who would pose the same way on their social media.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera has been cited as a sex symbol. Through VH1, she was included in the list of the sexiest entertainment artists in 2002 and 2013; in publications from "FHM" and "Complex", she received similar honors in 2004 and 2012, respectively. In 2003, she was chosen as the sexiest woman of the year by "Maxim", stamping the cover of the best-selling issue of the magazine's history. Furthermore, she was mentioned as one of the most beautiful people in the world in 2003 and 2007 in "People" editions. Aguilera also is recognized a gay icon; in 2019, she was awarded by the Human Rights Campaign for using her "platform to share a message of hope and inspiration to those who have been marginalized [...] bringing greater visibility to the LGBTQ community". Her fashion sense has also attracted media attention throughout her artistic life; Jon Caramanica, journalist from "The New York Times", concluded that "Aguilera will be remembered for her glamour and her scandalous take on femme-pop", while Janelle Okwodu from "Vogue" noted that she "has never been afraid to take a fashion risk [and] has filled her videos with jaw-dropping styles and risqué runway looks". Following her appearance at New York Fashion Week in 2018, "Dazed" named her one of the most stylish people of the year.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera has called her fans "fighters", which has become the nickname used on social media to refer to her fanbase. She is one of the most popular musicians on Twitter with approximately 17 million followers, and was one of the most searched artists in the world in 2002, 2004, and 2010 through Google. She was also one of the most popular searches in 2003 by Yahoo! Search. When she became a coach on "The Voice", Aguilera became one of the highest-paid American television stars; in 2011, it was reported that she would receive $225,000 per episode, as well as $12 million per season in 2013, $12.5 million in 2014, and $17 million in 2016. In 2007, "Forbes" included her on its list of richest women in entertainment with an estimated net worth estimated of $60 million, and estimated that she had earned $20 million that year. In 2021, Yahoo! Finance estimated Aguilera's fortune at $160 million.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Various music journalists and authors have noted Aguilera's legacy in the entertainment industry and deemed her as one of the greatest artists in pop music. In 2004, she was listed as one of the most influential people in the music market according to "The Independent", and was cited as the eight greatest woman in the phonographic industry by VH1. Early in her career, Aguilera was labeled as a teen idol, and has been cited as one of the artists who revived teen pop in the late nineties; "Time" magazine stated that she was a "pioneer [in] a different type of teen stardom", crediting her vocal ability as responsible for the phenomenon. Since then, she has been named as one of the greatest singers in contemporary pop music; by MTV, she was cited as one of the best voices in music since eighties, while "Rolling Stone" and "Consequence of Sound" included her in their lists of greatest singers of all time. In 2013, "Latina" honored her as the best vocalist of Latin origin in history. With the recognition of her vocal ability and influence in the music industry, she has been referred in media with the titles of "Princess of Pop" and "Voice of a Generation".


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Upon launching her music career in the late nineties, Aguilera was cited as one of the artists who shaped the "Latin explosion", in addition to contributed to the Latin pop boom in American music in early of the century. Considered one of the greatest artists of the 2000s, she has been classified between the main references of the Millennials; writing for "Vice" magazine, Wanna Thompson analyzed her impact in the turn of the century, stating that alongside Britney Spears, "Aguilera dominated mainstream pop-related discussions. [Her] perfectly packaged music and looks appealed to tweens and teens who wanted to be like the pretty, chart-topping pop stars plastered everywhere". The commercial success of her first projects as a bubblegum pop singer caused an effect that influenced record labels to invest in new artists who attracted the same youthful appeal, catapulting names like Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Critics also highlighted the impact of her work in popular culture; while "Stripped" (2002) was cited as "the blueprint for divas making the transition from teen idol to adult pop star", Aguilera is credited for "paving the way for a generation of pop singers". Jeff Benjamin from "Billboard" stated that the album explored a "process of self-identification and declaration still influencing today's mainstream scene", in addition to "how of today's biggest pop stars have followed a similar path, exploring and incorporating these strategies into their careers". In 2007, her self-titled debut album was added to the definitive list from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, being recognized as one of the "history's most influential and popular albums". Since then, Aguilera and her work have influenced various recording artists including Ariana Grande, Ava Max, Becky G, Britney Spears, Camila Cabello, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa, Grimes, Halsey, Hayley Williams, Iggy Azalea, Karol G, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga, Lauren Jauregui, Meghan Trainor, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Nicole, Olivia Rodrigo, Rina Sawayama, Rosalía, Sabrina Carpenter, Sam Smith, Selena Gomez, and Tinashe, and athletes such as figure skater Johnny Weir, ice dancers Zachary Donohue and Madison Hubbell, and swimmer Dana Vollmer.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera has also been praised for emphasizing the importance of feminism in pop music; several journalists agree that her use of sexual imagery has helped catalyze public discourse on the topic. Lamar Dawson, columnist from "The Huffington Post", praised her feminist efforts in the music industry and recognized that "while Christina isn't the first pop star to place feminist rhetoric into pop culture, she led the charge at the beginning of the 21st century of influencing the next generation of impressionable teens who were too young for Janet [Jackson] and Madonna's curriculum". Gerrick D. Kennedy from "Los Angeles Times" shared the same point of view and stated that "for a generation who hit puberty during the great 2000 pop explosion, Aguilera was an essential voice with music that tackled self-empowerment, feminism, sex and domestic violence — subject matter her contemporaries were shying away from". Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, co-founder of "The Vagenda", opined that the provocative dance routines in Aguilera's music videos was "empowering", as she has been referred to as the forerunner of the "slutdrop" dance style.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera's videography impact was also analysed by music critics. While "Dirrty" (2002) has been described as "one of the most controversial videos in pop music history", and one of the greatest music videos of all time, Issy Beech from "i-D" recognized that the audiovisual work "paved a path for videos like "Anaconda" and "Wrecking Ball" [...] paved the way for open sexuality from women in pop". In the video for "Beautiful" (2002), the highlight scene of a gay kiss has been considered one of the most important moments for LGBT culture, in addition to start Aguilera's image as a gay icon. Both works was elected as one of the greatest music videos of the 21st century by editors from "Billboard", while she was named one of the greatest women of the video era according VH1. In 2012, her videographic collection and some looks used throughout her career were part of an exhibition by the National Museum of Women in the Arts aimed at illustrating "the essential roles women have played in moving rock and roll and American culture forward". Jon Caramanica from "The New York Times" also commented about her contributions to television, observing an expressive number of artists signing with television networks to act as coaches of singing reality competition after her participation in the American version of "The Voice" franchise.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera has accumulated several awards and accolades in her career. At the age of nineteen, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, being recognized by The Recording Academy as one of the youngest singers to receive this award. She has since gone on to win four more Grammys. Furthermore, she has won two Latin Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, one "Billboard" Music Award, one Guinness World Records, and was also nominated with a Golden Globe Award. In 2010, she received a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in "recognition of her achievements in the recording industry". In 2019, she was also immortalized as a Disney Legend in "honor for her remarkable contributions to the Walt Disney Company". In addition to being often cited as one of the most prominent Latin artists in the entertainment industry, Aguilera was elected as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by "Time" in 2013.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera is recognized as one of the world's best-selling music artists, with estimated sales around 75 million records. According to Nielsen Soundscan, she has sold over 18.3 million albums in the United States, and her self-titled debut album (1999) was certified 8x platinum and listed as one of the best-selling in the country by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Regarding her digital sales, it is estimated that she has sold around 21.4 million tracks in the country until 2014. In the United Kingdom, Aguilera has sold over 9.4 million records as of 2013, which 3.3 million in albums sales and 6.1 million in singles sales. According to The Official Charts Company, her fourth studio album "Stripped" (2002) is one of the few to surpass the 2 million copies sold, becoming the second highest-selling album by an American female artist during the 2000s and one of the best-selling albums of the millennium in the country. Furthermore, "Moves Like Jagger" (2011) — her collaboration with band Maroon 5 — was cited as one of the best-selling singles in Australia, Canada, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as one of the best-selling digital singles with over 14.4 million copies. The song was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2021.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: After being listed as the top female artist of 2000 and 2003, "Billboard" classified Aguilera as the twentieth most successful artist of the 2000s. Through the same publication, she was considered one of the most successful artists of the decade on "Billboard" 200, Hot 100, and Mainstream Top 40 charts, and the second best-selling singles artist in the United States, behind Madonna. In 2016, she was also nominated as one of the greatest artists in history of the Mainstream Top 40 and Dance Club Songs charts. In addition, Aguilera was recognized by the magazine as one of the four female artists in history to have a number-one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in three consecutive decades. In 2020, she was cited by "Pollstar" as one of the top female artists of the 21st century in the concert industry; according to the publication, she sold more than 1.8 million tickets for her performances throughout her career, with an earning exceeding $113.8 million. In Morocco, Aguilera held her largest audience concert, attracting 250,000 people to her performance at Mawazine Festival, becoming the record audience in history of the event.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Outside of her projects in the music industry, Aguilera has worked in other activities. In 2016, after founding her own production company, MX Productions, she signed a contract with Lions Gate Entertainment to develop a music competition program, named "Tracks", which was aired on Spike TV. At the same year, it was reported that she was an investor of multiple companies, including Pinterest, DraftKings, Lyft and MasterClass — for which she also developed a singing class. Throughout her career, she has worked with the sale of your own products; in 2011, she attended São Paulo Fashion Week to unveil her first clothes line which was commercialized at the Brazilian department store C&A. In 2004, she started her perfume line through Procter & Gamble (P&G), which is maintained with annual releases since then; in addition to being awarded numerous times at the FiFi Awards by The Fragrance Foundation, her fragrances ranked among the United Kingdom's best-sellers in 2007 and 2009. In 2016, Aguilera's fragrance business was acquired by Elizabeth Arden, Inc., where it was estimated that the brand had $80 million in sales and $10 million in earnings in January of that year.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera has also been involved in marketing initiatives during her career, endorsing numerous brands, including Sears and Levi's (2000), Skechers (2003), Mercedes-Benz, Virgin Mobile (both in 2004), Pepsi, Orange UK, Sony Ericsson (both in 2006), Oreo (2017), and SweeTarts (2021). In 2001, she signed with Coca-Cola to star in a series of television commercials in a deal reported to worth up £50 million. Furthermore, Aguilera inspired a clothing line by Versace in 2003, starring as a model in its advertising campaign; likewise, in 2008, she influenced and appeared in a campaign to promote a collection of sterling silver pieces designed by Stephen Webster. In 2004, it was reported that she earned over £200,000 pounds to open a summer sale at London's department store Harrods. Following the birth of her first child in 2008, Aguilera was paid $1.5 million to submit her baby pictures to "People" magazine, which became the ninth most expensive celebrity baby photograph ever taken.


title: Christina Aguilera

text: Aguilera has done numerous philanthropic works during her career. In 2001, she signed an open letter organized by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) destined to South Korea, appealing on national government to ban the consumption of dogs and cats. In 2006, she replaced a costume designed by Roberto Cavalli for her Back to Basics Tour after discovering that he had used fox fur in its composition. In 2010, Aguilera auctioned tickets to her concerts through Christie's, earmarking the proceeds to non-profit environmental organizations, including Conservation International and the Natural Resources Defense Council. She has also worked to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS; in 2004, she was the face of a make-up line by MAC Cosmetics, profits of which were used to benefit the Mac AIDS Fund. In the following year, Aguilera appeared in a photo book which raised funds for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, in addition to starring in a campaign organized by YouthAIDS.