PHILOSOPHY: SOCRATES’ METHOD

The Death of Socrates, by Jacques-Louis David (1787)

socrates was dubbed the wisest man in greece. with tremendous conviction, he famously declared that he knew nothing. socrates wasn’t a selfish guy, he spread his wisdom by paving the road for man to make this same discovery himself. he’d ask questions, pick holes in the answers, find the contradictions of personal opinions, then explain the INCONSISTENCIES of those opinions until it was non-disputable that man truly knew so little. as an example, in the dialogue republic, Socrates asks Cephalus what the word “justice” means. cephalus suggests that it’s telling the truth & paying your debts. socrates then begs the question “if you borrow a sword from a man, Don’t you owe it to him to give it back?”

they agree.

but then he asks “what if you know the person has gone mad? surely there should be an exception.”

cephalus agrees. there MUST be exceptions.

with this example, socrates displays the idea that this case of justice requires not giving somebody what they are due. cephalus realizes he undermined his own argument and comes to the conclusion that he doesn’t know what he thought he knew about justice. socrates takes a bow, and simply moves onto the next person— he was basically a jester. it’s an incredibly simple example of how fragile most arguments can be. the rigorous examination of thought via questions & answers needs to take place in the pursuit of truth.

socrates’ method may at times, feel negative. constantly questioning somebody’s beliefs should merely be INTERPRETED as challenging one’s beliefs to maintain diplomacy. if you want to end up with true beliefs— ones you can defend to the deepest extent, then you need to test them, thoroughly.