Plato's dialogue in which Socrates observes and comments on the sophists Euthydemus and Dionysodorus as they display their eristic art — demonstrating how sophistical argument can prove anything, refute anything, and disorient its hearers — as a contrast to genuine philosophical inquiry.
Illustrates the difference between sophistry (eristic argument designed to win) and genuine philosophy (inquiry designed to find truth) — the Euthydemus sophists can prove that knowledge is impossible, that learning is impossible, that one cannot make a mistake — demonstrating that rhetoric disconnected from truth is a form of intellectual violence.
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