In real life, I’ve never heard anyone quote Socrates’ words: “the unexamined life is not worth living.” That’s a quote from Plato’s “Apology,” section 38a, which conveys the essence of Socrates’ strategy during the criminal trial against him. Life without asking questions is not worth living. Nor life without debating, philosophising and speculating about virtue.…

When we speak of improving one’s thinking, we don’t mean making individuals more intelligent. Socrates did not invent a method to turn everyone into a genius. His objective was more subdued and modest. He just wanted to disprove exaggerated, arbitrary, contradictory claims. To the extent that the Socratic method works, it can help us think…

The term “critical thinking” did not exist in Ancient Greece. Neither Plato nor Aristotle called themselves critical thinkers, although they were conscious of the differences between their ideas and what most people believed in Ancient Athens. In the case of Socrates, it is fair to employ the term “critical thinking” because his debates aimed at…