Improve Your Critical Thinking

Socrates, one of the founding fathers of Western philosophical thought, was on trial.

Many Athenians considered him a dangerous enemy of the state and accused the philosopher of corrupting the youth and refusing to acknowledge their gods.

Socrates was feared, however, not because he claimed to know all the answers, but because he asked too many questions.

Although he abhorred formal lectures, the philosopher often engaged friends and strangers in long discussions about morality and society.

These discussions weren't debates, nor did Socrates give explicit advice.

Rather, the philosopher often claimed to know nothing at all and merely answered his counterpart's answers with more questions.

But through this process, Socrates examined their logic, exposed their weaknesses, and helped both parties come to a better understanding.

These insightful questions endeared Socrates to his followers.

Two of his students, Plato and Xenophon, were so inspired that they recreated their mentor's approach in fictional dialogues.

These invented dialogues are perfect examples of what would later become known as the Socratic method.

In one of these invented dialogues,

Socrates converses with a young man named Euthydemus, who is convinced that he understands the nature of right and wrong.

Socrates explores the student's values by asking him to label actions such as lying and stealing as just or unjust.

Euthydemus confidently classifies them as injustice, but this only leads to another question:

is it just for a commander to deceive or plunder an enemy army?

Euthydemus revises his assertion.

He claims that these actions are just when committed against enemies and unjust when committed against friends.

But Socrates isn't finished yet.

He asks the young man to imagine a general lying to his troops to boost their morale.

Soon Euthydemus is in despair.

It seems that any answer leads to further problems, and perhaps he's not quite sure what justice is at all.

By applying this question-oriented approach,

Socrates described himself as a midwife, using his questions to help others give birth to their ideas.

His questioning method brings to light a person's unexamined assumptions and then challenges those preconceptions.

It doesn't always provide definitive answers, but the method helps clarify questions and eliminate contradictory or circular logic.

And by following a question where it logically leads, both the questioner and the answerer can end up in unexpected places.

This technique isn't limited by the content of the conversation, which makes it incredibly useful in many areas.

During the Renaissance, this method was used to teach clinical medicine.

Students proposed their rationales for various diagnoses while a physician challenged their assumptions and moderated the discussion.

In this model, the method was even able to produce conclusive results.

This approach was later used in other sciences such as astronomy, botany, and mathematics.

After the Protestant Reformation, it was adapted to deal with abstract questions of faith.

In the 19th century, the method became an essential part of American legal education.

Professors tested students' understanding of legal reasoning by confronting them with unforeseen hypothetical situations.

This approach is still used today by the Supreme Court to imagine the unintended consequences of passing a law.

The Socratic method can be applied to almost any topic that requires critical thinking, but its success depends on the teacher who uses it.

An effective Socratic educator must be well versed in their subject.

Instead of bullying their students or bragging about their superior intellect, they should be humble, genuinely curious, and affirming of every contribution.

In this regard, Socrates himself may not have been the most subtle Socratic teacher.

Historians believe that he was very critical of the particular type of democracy in Athens,

and that he passed these concerns on to his followers.

These subversive beliefs were distorted in public forums and are said to have inspired two of his students to betray him.

It's likely that Socrates was tried for these ideas and eventually sentenced to death.

Yet even on his deathbed, artists portray a serene philosopher, ever curious to explore the ultimate question.