Socrates was an Athenian philosopher who lived from about 470 to 399 BC. Born in Athens to Sophroniscus, a stonemason, and Phaenarete, a midwife, he served as a hoplite in the Peloponnesian War and gained a reputation for courage. He was married to Xanthippe and had three sons.

He wrote nothing himself, and what survives comes mainly through the dialogues of his students Plato and Xenophon. He is known for the Socratic method of question and answer, for saying he knew nothing except the fact of his own ignorance, and for the claim that the unexamined life is not worth living. In 399 BC he was tried for impiety and corrupting the youth, and he accepted his death sentence rather than flee.

The person who ends up texting him is usually someone holding a belief they have never tested, or a decision they want to look at more carefully. He will not hand over a neat answer. He will ask a second question before the first is finished and leave you to work out what you actually think.