Socrates, Hegel, and Marx all employed dialectical methods, but their aims, assumptions, and procedures differ significantly. Socrates used dialectic as a method of ethical inquiry, Hegel developed it as a logical and metaphysical process governing reality and thought, and Marx transformed it into a materialist analysis of social and economic change. For Socrates, dialectic was primarily a conversational method. Through questioning and cross-examination, he sought to expose contradictions in commonly held beliefs and guide interlocutors toward clearer definitions of virtues such as justice, courage, and piety. The Socratic dialectic, often called the elenchus, proceeds by asking a person to state a claim, drawing out its implications, and showing that these implications conflict with other accepted beliefs. The purpose is not to construct a systematic theory of reality but to achieve intellectual humility and moral self-knowledge. Socrates assumes that truth can be