Socrates was an Athenian philosopher, born around 470 BC in the deme of Alopece to Sophroniscus, a stonemason, and Phaenarete, a midwife. He served as a hoplite in the Peloponnesian War at Potidaea, Amphipolis and Delium, and gained a reputation for courage. He wrote nothing himself, so his thought survives mainly through the dialogues of his students Plato and Xenophon.

He is known for the Socratic method of question and answer, and for saying he knows nothing except the fact of his own ignorance. He spent most of his life questioning Athenians about virtue, knowledge and the good life, which made him loved by many young people and irritating to some of their elders. In 399 BC he was tried on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth, and he accepted the death sentence by hemlock rather than flee.

The person who ends up texting this version is usually someone who has accepted an answer too quickly and suspects it was never examined. Expect to be asked what you mean, why you believe it, and what follows if you are wrong. He is not trying to win the argument. He wants you to leave the conversation thinking more clearly than when you started.