SOPHIST

Most likely circa 360 BC. The interlocutors, lead by Eleatic Stranger, use the method of division to classify and define the sophist, as well as to describe and differentiate him from the philosopher and statesman. The discussion, like that of its sequel, the Statesman, is remarkable in that Socrates is present but only plays a small role. The Eleatic Stranger, on the other hand, takes the lead in the dialogue. Beyond the problem of supposing any figure to be an author's "mouthpiece" due to Socrates' silence, it's difficult to attribute the Eleatic Stranger's beliefs to Plato. 

The dialogue's major goal is to define what a sophist is and how they vary from philosophers and statesmen. The discussion follows some of the lines of inquiry pursued in the epistemological dialogue, Theaetetus, which is supposed to have taken place the day before, because each appears to be distinguished by a particular sort of knowing. Because the Sophist deals with these topics, it is frequently assumed that it sheds light on Plato's Theory of Forms, and it is compared to the Parmenides, who challenged what is commonly assumed to be the theory of forms.