I am fond of saying that Socrates did not create the Socratic method, and neither did Plato in his philosophical depictions of Socrates’ debates. Neither Socrates nor Plato claimed to have discovered a new approach to epistemology; they only claimed that, if we ask a lot of questions, chances are that we will stumble upon the truth.
The intellectual construction of the Socratic method would not take place until Plato’s students went through the materials, analysed the similarities in Socrates’ debates, and put together a general theory that they called “the Socratic method.”
To understand how the Socratic method works, we just need to take a look at how the method was created. We just need to review Plato’s works in which Socrates plays a central role and employs his method of inquiry to elicit the truth. He asks many questions, and little by little, steers towards the final answer.
The five essential Plato’s works that demonstrate how the Socratic method works are “Apology,” “Euthyphro,” “Meno,” “Theaetetus,” and “Republic.”
The final intellectual construction of the Socratic method is drawn, in parts and pieces, from these five Plato’s works. The method is a collage made of quotes, examples, logical chains, and paradoxes in which Socrates played the central role.
Let us review the parts and pieces that constitute the method and analyse examples from Plato’s works. Each of Plato’s works I mentioned above contributes a crucial element to the method, and employs the other elements to a lower extent.
The rhetorical questions in “Apology”
“Apology,” which is by far the best known of Plato’s works, records Socrates’ defence in the criminal trial in which he was charged with impiety and with corrupting the youth.
The element introduced by “Apology” is the employment of rhetorical questions as preamble to stating an argument, or as a means to leading one’s opponent to state the argument himself.
Socrates, who speaks to a large public during the trial, uses a plethora of questions to make his point. Those questions are purely rhetorical, not real questions that one would ask during a conversation. Socrates is using his questions to set the scene for the arguments he wants to make.
The objective of Socrates in “Apology” is to prove that he is wise and harmless, and that he contributes to the Athenian welfare by the sheer fact of practising philosophy publicly and engaging in debates in the marketplace.
To introduce his points, Socrates asks rhetorical questions such as “What are the charges against me?” Then he proceeds to systematically dismantle the image that his accusers paint of him.
Socrates counters, for instance, the image of foolish, absurd, laughable character that Aristophanes had depicted in his play “The Clouds.” Aristophanes had named his character Socrates with the goal of poking fun at the real Socrates and making the public laugh.
In the Socratic method, it is crucial to set the scene before we present our point. That’s the outcome Socrates pursued with his rhetorical questions: to get the public’s attention focused on a specific issue and make them receptive to the answer.
The feigned ignorance in “Euthyphro”
The second element of the Socratic method is introduced by Plato in his work “Euthyphro.” This second element consists of pretending ignorance when it helps us drive the opponent into making a statement or recognizing a truth that we want to bring to the light.
In the case of “Euthyphro,” Socrates pretends to be ignorant in matters of ethics, praises Euthyphro heavily, and then states that he wants to become a student of Euthyphro.
By pretending to know nothing about ethics, Socrates wants to get Euthyphro to speak about ethics. In doing so, Socrates expects, little by little, to steer the conversation in the direction that suits him. Ignorance is only a strategy to prompt the other person to talk openly and without reservations.
The problem with this element of the Socratic method is its volatility. If we admit our ignorance in an area essential to the debate, it can easily play to our detriment.
If our opponent does not fall in the trap and recognises the truth we want to bring forward, he may profit from our silence or ignorance to go in another direction, one that hurts our goals in the debate.
The electric ray metaphor in “Meno”
“Meno” is Plato’s work that illustrates the best known aspect of the Socratic method, namely, the technique of asking a vast number of questions. Meno complained to Socrates that he was overwhelming him with so many questions.
Then Meno compares Socrates with an electric ray, a flat fish that uses electric discharges to paralyse its prey. Socrates’ gives a rather bland reply to the accusation.
He acknowledges that his questions might prove annoying, but says that he has no choice but to ask questions because he is ignorant and wants to find out the truth. Socrates’ reply does not address the central point in Meno’s complaint, namely, that people do not like to be cross-examined.
The midwifery metaphor in “Theatetus”
“Theaetetus” contributes the fourth element of the Socratic method, namely, the comparison of Socrates to a midwife, not in helping to bring babies to the world, but in the philosophical field. Socrates proudly claims that his questions are helping to bring out the truth into the world.
Through the centuries, the “Theaetetus” comparison of the Socratic method with midwifery has reverberated in all courses of philosophy, but does it really make sense? If Socrates knows the answer, why is he wasting time asking dozens of questions; and if he does not know the answer, how does he expect to tell which answer is correct and which one not?
“Republic” contains many examples of Socratic questioning and answers, but proves especially strong in defining the terms of the debate at the very beginning. Before Socrates begins to drill with sharp questions, he would ask a few soft-ball ones to define the terms of the debate.
Defining the terms in “Republic”
For instance, in the introduction of “Republic,” he speaks of wealth and morality, but introduces the distinction between inherited wealth and earned wealth. He then focuses his further questions on earned wealth and its benefits.
In the practice of the Socratic method, it is wise to devote a string of questions at the beginning to define the terms, so that the string of questions can rest on solid pillars. If we fail to do that, we risk building our arguments on sand.
All the five elements of the Socratic method need to be put together smoothly into practice if we want to achieve the goal of convincing our opponents in a debate. To beginners in this area, I recommend studying the five Plato’s works that I have mentioned in my explanations.
If you are interested in applying rational ideas in all sorts of situations, I recommend my book “Consistency: The key to permanent stress relief.”