Comment by dotancohen 20 hours ago
Plato's sock puppet Socrates? I think that you and I have read different history books, or at least different books regarding the history of philosophy. That said, I would love to hear your perspective on this.
> Plato's sock puppet Socrates?
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_problem
> Socrates was the main character in most of Plato's dialogues and was a genuine historical figure. It is widely understood that in later dialogues, Plato used the character Socrates to give voice to views that were his own.
However, have a look at the Wikipedia article itself for a more nuanced view. We also have some other writers with accounts of Socrates.
I presume they refer to the fact that Socrates is basically used as a rhetorical device in Plato’s writings, and it’s not entirely clear how much of the dialogues were Socrates’s thoughts and how much was Plato’s own.