Page "Socratic dialogue" Paragraph 1

Most accurately, the term refers to works in which Socrates is a character, though as a genre other texts are included ; Plato's Laws and Xenophon's Hiero are Socratic dialogues in which a wise man other than Socrates leads the discussion ( the Athenian Stranger and Simonides, respectively ).

Likewise, the stylistic format of the dialogues can vary ; Plato's dialogues generally only contain the direct words of each of the speakers, while Xenophon's dialogues are written down as a continuous story, containing, along with the narration of the circumstances of the dialogue, the " quotes " of the speakers.