How To Think For Yourself Using the Socratic Method

Gabriella H.
4 min readMar 6, 2023

The only knowledge available to us is knowing that we know nothing.

Image by macrovector on Freepik

Thinking is as popular today as Vladimir Putin in 2023. Everyone hates it, and hardly anyone wants to do it.

Critical thinking is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. We derive our most profound ideas and thoughts from influencers from our preferred social network. We scroll endlessly, searching for new ideas or gurus to dictate our way of thinking, hoping they will provide us with enough controversial material we can then parrot on our platform, much to the concern of our family and friends.

Willful ignorance is quickly becoming the norm, and our entrenched opinions are often based on quicksand provided to us by 30-second clips that promptly acknowledge our dwindling attention span.

Although Socrates lived many thousands of years ago, his teachings are more relevant today than ever. Sure, the Athenians hated his guts so much they had him killed for distorting the minds of the youth. In short, they had him killed because he made them think.

With a simple line of questioning, Socrates was able to knock down deeply entrenched ideas and arrive at ground-breaking discoveries in under half an hour.

The Socratic Method for Critical Thinking

Socrates’ method is so simple that it can be easily written down as you would any food recipe or the process for changing a tire.

1) Find a statement to debunk
For simplicity, let’s choose a well-known statement made famous by the protagonist of a popular US show, Eleven, from “Stranger Things.”

“Friends don’t lie.” — Eleven, Stranger Things

This statement is usually pronounced with total conviction and certainty, which makes you feel stupid for questioning the wisdom of a 15-year-old girl with superpowers. But alas, we’ll do it anyway.

2) Search for situations where the statement would not be true
Sure, we’ve all been taught that lies are bad, but is it true that friends don’t lie?
Can you throw a surprise party for your friend without lying or deceiving her in one way or another? Unlikely. At some point, you’ll have to lie to make…

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Gabriella H.

I’m always curious, always looking for something new to learn, using life as a learning canvas.