Conversations with Socrates Would Have Been Painful

Socrates is well-known as a philosopher.  The things is, we do not really know anything about his school, or positions.  All that we can discern is found in the often contradictory accounts of his positions by other philosophers such as Aristophanes, Xenophon, and Plato. 

The Socratic dialogue is this genre of literary prose, which was developed in Greece, from the turn of the fourth century BCE.  The earliest examples are from the works of Plato and Xenophon, students of Socrates, and they all involve Socrates himself, as a character.  Socratic dialogue presents a discussion of ethical and philosophical contentions between two or more characters, often representing specific perspectives.  The Socratic dialogue is a means to illustrate the application of the Socratic method.  While Socrates is often the main participant, his presence as a character in the dialogue is not essential. 

The Socratic method is a series of philosophical arguments between parties of the Socratic dialogue, dispassionate, unemotive, and clinical, which is based on taking turns to put forward contentions and then tearing the down through a critical analysis of the underlying presuppositions.  It begins by questioning the seeming obvious, and then defining things to oblivion.  The idea is that the better hypotheses eliminates the weaker ones, until reason prevails, and we arrive at the truth.  The Socratic method is inimical to rhetorical devices and idiomatic speech.  Essentially, Socrates at the dinner table would be a pain to talk to.