Plato’s Sophist is the philosophical exploration of the theme of the Apology or Defense Speech of Socrates: is there any real distinction between philosophy and sophistry? Set on the day after Socrates’ indictment, the conversation is led by a stranger from Elea, the home town of Parmenides, who appears directly to accuse Socrates of a kind of noble sophistry. In its search for an understanding of the sophist the dialogue is compelled to discuss the basic questions of being, meaning and philosophical method.