Socrates Develops Socratic Method

Socrates, active in Athens during the fifth century BCE, developed a method of philosophical inquiry based on systematic questioning. Known through the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, the technique involved posing successive questions to expose contradictions in an interlocutor's stated beliefs, thereby clarifying concepts such as justice, virtue, and knowledge. Socrates left no written works; his method is documented primarily in Plato's dialogues. The approach established a foundational methodology for Western philosophy and remains a standard pedagogical technique in legal education.