 It may still be the case that he accepts influence from other currents in philosophy, or that he develops some ideas on his own. The clearest instance of such influence concerns Plato, for Epictetus draws much inspiration from the Socrates depicted in Plato’s shorter dialogues. Comparisons can be drawn especially to the Socrates of Plato’s Gorgias, with his fondness for argumentative give and take, his willingness to challenge the hearer’s presuppositions, and his optimism about what can be achieved through values clarification. The  Theaetetus may also have been influential on Epictetus’s thinking about contemplation and the relation of human to divine; see Bénatouïl 2013. Epictetus also knows the Master Argument from Megarian philosophy (3rd c. BCE) and even names Diodorus and Panthoides, although this knowledge might easily have been drawn from Stoic treatises on logic (2.19.1–11; see further Barnes 1997 ch. 3 and Crivelli in Scaltsas and Mason 2007).