As J. K. Davies has observed about ancient Greek thinkers,

But how exactly did these thinkers “come to be denoted” by these labels? As I have contended, the creation of “philosophy” was not simply a matter of giving a name to a new method of inquiry and argumentation. Rather, philosophy had to make a case for itself as a discipline that offered a unique kind of wisdom which rivaled the other brands on offer. This was by no means a simple enterprise, as Plato's frequent attempts to define and legitimize philosophy clearly attest. As we have seen, Plato defined philosophy at least in part by way of the rhetoric of invective and exclusion – rhetoric which had a specific valence in the context of the social and political structures of democratic Athens. But he did not rest content with explicit definitions and denunciations. For Plato also marked the boundaries of philosophy by scripting intertextual encounters with traditional genres of poetry and rhetoric. Although Plato is famous for his quarrels with “poetry” and “rhetoric” as supergenres, his parodic attacks invariably focus on individual genres of literature.