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The Socratic Method for Thinking

The Socratic Method for Thinking. Adapted from Alain de Botton, Consolations of Philosophy [New York: Vintage, 2001 (2000)], pp. 24-25. See also his BBC video on Socrates and Self-Confidence : http://youtu.be/S24FxdvfOko. Step One. Locate a statement confidently described as common sense. 

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The Socratic Method for Thinking

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  1. The Socratic Method for Thinking Adapted from Alain de Botton, Consolations of Philosophy [New York: Vintage, 2001 (2000)], pp. 24-25. See also his BBC video on Socrates and Self-Confidence: http://youtu.be/S24FxdvfOko

  2. Step One • Locate a statement confidently described as common sense.  • Example: “Acting courageously involves not retreating in battle.” • Example: “A beautiful work of art is one that is symmetrical.”

  3. Contemplative Athena (470-460 B.C.)

  4. Step Two • Imagine for a moment that, despite the confidence of the person proposing it, the statement is false. Search for situations or contexts where the statement would not be true. • Example: Could one ever be courageous and yet retreat in battle? Could one ever stay firm in battle and yet not be courageous? • Example: Are there works of art that are symmetrical yet not beautiful? Are there works of art that are not symmetrical?

  5. Pablo Picasso, Weeping Woman (1937)

  6. Step Three • If an exception can be found, the definition must be false or at least imprecise. • Example: It is possible to be courageous and retreat. It is possible to stay firm in battle yet not be courageous. • Example: It is possible for a work of art to be beautiful but not symmetrical (e.g., a Pablo Picasso painting).

  7. Step Four • The initial statement must be nuanced to take the exception into account. • Example: “Acting courageously can involve both retreat and advance in battle.” • Example: “A beautiful work of art can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical.

  8. Step Five • If one subsequently finds exceptions to the improved statements, the process should be repeated. The truth, insofar as a human being is able to attain such a thing, lies in a statement which it seems impossible to disprove. It is by finding out what something is not that one comes closest to understanding what it is.

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