Scholars are more or less agreed upon some distinctive characteristics of the character named „Socrates“ in Plato’s early dialogues. This Athenian citizen does not mention the\ud more elaborate doctrines of Plato’s later books and seems to be focussed on questions of ethics and conceptual clarification. It is likely that Plato’s literary creation, in these respects, more or less resembles the historical Socrates. Wittgenstein, on his part, does not distinguish between different roles assigned to the name „Socrates“ in Plato’s writings,\ud but I will focus on the provocative, probing intellectual, questioning received wisdom in\ud interchanges with citizens like Laches and Charmides. Platonic philosophy could never\ud have developed without ...