These five dialogues depict the life, death, and philosophical methods of Socrates, as portrayed by his student and philosophical successor, Plato. Meno offers some of the clearest and most compelling examples of the Socratic method in application. In Euthyphro, Socrates examines the concept of piety and displays his propensity for questioning Athenian authorities. Next, in the Apology, we find Socrates defending himself in court against charges of impiety and co...

Socrates, one of the first of the great philosophers, left no written works. What survives of his thought are second-hand descriptions of his teachings and conversations—including, most famously, the accounts of his trial and execution composed by his friend, student, and philosophical successor, Plato. In Euthyphro, Socrates examines the concept of piety and displays his propensity for questioning Athenian authorities. Such audacity is not without consequence, and in the Apol...