Socrates never taught anyone anything — he just asked until they tripped

Rather than lecturing, Socrates cross-examined people who claimed to know something — justice, courage, virtue — asking question after question until their own definitions contradicted each other. He framed this relentless self-examination as living out the Delphic maxim 'know thyself', insisting that admitting your own ignorance was the necessary first step toward any real wisdom.

— Plato, Plato's early dialogues — 4th century BC, via the Socratic dialogues