Socratic Method

Philosophers make for very dangerous friends.

A lot of my friends would probably agree with that. They know that as soon as I start asking them questions, they need to prepare themselves. Tonight was no different. I had a couple stop by tonight and one of them started talking about this book I have called “For Men Only” while the other watched YouTube.

The one who was talking to me told me that he just couldn’t find that interesting. I asked him what he did find interesting and I got the answer of Star Wars. I asked him why and he had to think about it some and then he started describing some things interesting he found in there. Fair enough. Why?

Before the evening was done, we had discussed masculinity, beauty, sexuality, and the Trinity.

All of this was through what is called the Socratic Method and I find it quite amazing to undergo. This is something I’d recommend doing with people if you want to learn something from them or help them learn something. Generally, it just involves asking simple questions and the person does their thinking on their own until they reach a conclusion.

You can really learn a lot from people this way in that they open up into themselves. They start talking about what matters to them and really thinking about deep issues. That’s one of our problems today. We don’t really think. We don’t know how to engage a topic. If anything, our thinking is shallow.

What’s amazing is how far you can go on this. When I started talking tonight, I had no idea that this would eventually lead to a discussion of masculinity and how far that would go. Of course, you don’t always have a goal. You just go where the road of thinking leads you. Isn’t this how it goes when we use it on the one that we can engage in it the most with? Ourselves?

Here’s something else. He enjoyed it. He wished he could have stayed more, but he had told his folks he’d be home at a decent hour. Understandable. So I let him go and he wants to come back again. People like thinking. They really do. We don’t do it enough but when the common person gets engaged in a conversation of this sort, they readily enjoy it.

So indeed we philosophers make dangerous friends, but we’re agents of truth. We will either destroy your ideas or build them up to a better level. Rest assured though, if I ask you a question, you might want to go into defensive mode immediately.