The Socratic Method
I’m sure the name Socrates rings a bell.
Yeah, he’s that ancient Greek philosopher, right?
No.
Just kidding. Yeah, that’s him.
Socrates was one of the most influential philosophers of all time — I mean that’s pretty obvious given we still write about him over 2000 years later.
He thought up some pretty innovative things. The first real unicorn person if you ask me. Anyways, probably one of the coolest things about Socrates is that he prided himself on his “lack of knowledge.” He’s not just humble. He philosophized about this.
He was quite dogmatic in preaching this to the people of Athens at the time. So dogmatic, that he frequently questioned them.
Was that a perfect segway? Why, yes.
What is the Socratic Method?
It’s important to note that Socrates didn’t write anything down. The principles of his that we study derive from the written works of his contemporaries; Plato and Aristotle.
Big names, I know.
Plato created The Academy to teach Athenians how to think like Socrates. The best accounts of Socrates’ beliefs came from Plato’s dialogues.
It is from these passages that we learned of Socrates’ largest contribution to the academic world; the Socratic Method (aka Elenchus)
In Plato’s dialogue, Phaedo, he writes how Socrates questioned his students about the immortality of the soul. This habit of questioning stemmed from what the Oracle, Delphi, told Socrates.
She informed him that he was the wisest man in Athens. Big compliments. Socrates being the philosopher, therefore the skeptic, that he was, ventured throughout Athens in search of wiser men.
He was attempting to find someone who knew more than he did, feeling as though he “knew nothing.” Upon questioning these wise men, he realized that these so called “wise people” did not know what they claimed to know.
To better conceptualize this, Socrates decided to label (as philosophers are wont to do). He decided to call the “claim of knowledge” A. After speaking to the person, he would uncover their other beliefs, labelled B, C and D.
Using the Socratic Method, he would indicate how the existence and belief in B, C and D implied that A was incorrect. In using these questions, he would uncover that the person didn’t know what they said they did.
This method boils down to a few basic principles
- Take a claim and find other beliefs the person holds that contradict it
- Indicate how the varying beliefs caused contradiction
- Eliminate negative hypotheses in the process
Is this still Relevant?
Today, we use the Socratic Method a little bit differently. I mean, maybe some place somewhere there are old men who putter about their villages forcing questions upon others but what do I know.
Oftentimes, the Socratic Method is used by asking people questions to help them draw their own conclusions. As Socrates liked to put it, knowledge comes from asking questions.
One of the best ways to learn and grow your brain is through critical thinking, logic and reasoning. The Socratic method, continuous question asking, forces you to think clearly and rationally.
Asking yourself questions until you can no longer answer is one way to first locate missing information in your own beliefs and theories then following up by correcting them.
This clip from The Paper Chase (a great movie btw) is a scene from a law class in which the professor explains the Socratic Method. The way he puts it, this process teaches you to learn how to teach yourself.
He also brings up a good point about having a perfect answer. There is no perfect answer. As soon as you think you’ve found one, another question is waiting to be answered like wack-a-mole.
But it’s wack-a-mole that urges you towards a better answer.
Key Takeaways
- Question yourself often and hard
- Don’t settle for mediocre answers
- Expect imperfect conclusions
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