Socratic questioning could tear apart everything that you think you know. In the Platonic Dialogue Laches, Socrates completely dismantles what the distinguished Athenian generals, Laches and Nicias, think courage is. Socrates asks them “what is that common quality, which is the same in all these cases, and which is called courage?” (Plato, 191e) This quote from Socrates is relevant for the fact that Socrates is asking for something more than just a description, which partially defines courage. He is asking for a definition of courage that includes all cases in which the word courage could ever be used or conceived. Socrates here seems to be searching for the essence of courage disembodied from any context. It is this task of defining courage
