From Plato’s admiration to Aristophanes’ mockery, this animated explainer uncovers who Socrates really was, if he existed at all.

Socrates, if anything, was a critic of the Athenian democratic system, particularly the ease with which speakers could sway votes by pandering to the worst tendencies, or vices, of the people.

Socrates’ method was to clear his students’ minds of abstractions and assumptions, so that they might attain self-knowledge and learn the practical wisdom of living well. His pupil Plato ...