Irony in Socratic method: mechanism and relative value

In the course of mental experiment, the author justifies the impossibility of self-irony, as a result, an analytical description of the mechanism of irony has been developed. The article shows the sociocultural conditionality of irony application in the philosophical method of Socrates. The Socratic irony is considered as a tool of counteraction of sophistical tactics in a particular situation of an antique philosophical dialogue.