The Socratic method—often referred to as elenchus—is a rhetorical form in which two individuals engage in an argumentative dialogue. It is designed to draw out and interrogate assumptions held by one or both individuals in the dialogue. This format is used in most of Plato’s dialogues involving Socrates, though in Apology Socrates actually describes the process in detail instead of merely engaging in it. He describes employing this method when speaking to Athens’s political, social, and financial elite to expose their ignorance. Socrates claims he does so not to humiliate these individuals but to help them become better, wiser citizens. He explicitly showcases this during his cross-examination of Meletus.

Socratic irony is a key component of the Socratic method, particularly as it appears in Apology. In short, to employ Socratic irony is to feign ignorance in order to expose another individual’s ignorance. When interrogating Meletus, for example, Socrates asks questions innocently, even though he already knows the answers. The point of the questioning has little to do with each individual answer; rather, the cumulative sequence of questions and answers is methodically designed to confound Meletus by maneuvering him to contradict himself.