  The Sophist and Statesman search for definitions,  and both dialogues focus on the search. The Sophist speaks  often of the hunt in which we are engaged and of the sophist as our  quarry. In this hunt the sophist time and again eludes us, taking  cover in the darkness of not-being, reappearing occasionally to  dispute the very existence of the kind to which we wish to assign  him. How can we define the sophist at all, if we cannot get hold of  him or coherently characterize the kind to which he belongs? The  Statesman repeatedly notices the road traveled—longer  roads and shorter roads that will take us to our destination or lead  us astray. The dialogue often reflects on better and worse methods of seeking the goal. The Sophist and the first part of the  Statesman represent the search by means of an elaborate  tree-like system of roads. The inquirers travel down these branching  roads; at each fork they must choose which branch to take in the hope of finding their quarry, and that quarry alone, at the terminus. This method of discovery is called division, and in its most  usual form it is the repeated dichotomy of a general kind into two subordinate kinds. Inquirers use  division to locate a target kind at the terminus of one branch of the division. A definition, when reached by this means, recounts the  steps of the journey.