Asking the Socratic Questions

A line of reasoning named for Socrates helps us help believers in the strange re-examine their beliefs.

Of all the possible perspectives, beliefs, theories, ideologies, and conclusions in this world, which of

them are beyond question? None of them. And neither should be any person who holds one of those

positions. People believe all sorts of strange things, and even though they might be passionate about

them, most will still admit that questioning their belief is an appropriate undertaking. Therefore, we —

as scientific skeptics — have an available avenue by which we can always encourage believers in the

strange to revisit their beliefs. Despite the fact that we may lack professional expertise in the subject at

hand, we can still plant the seeds of an uprising of logic within the mind of the believer. One way to do

this is through the application of Socratic questioning.

Returning to our fake example guys used in the past, Starling and Bombo, we can illustrate this concept.

Let us choose an example scenario. If Bombo has seen a UFO and believes that it was an alien

spacecraft, it would likely be difficult for Starling to reason him out of the idea by offering alternative

suggestions. People are often pretty stubborn when it comes to personal experiences that they've

already interpreted for themselves; Bombo saw an alien spacecraft, and telling him it was the planet

Venus would probably be a dead end. Indeed, even offering lines of logic for Bombo to follow on his

own would probably be refused. So is there any effective way at all of getting someone to consider a

different explanation?

The answer is yes, and it involves getting Bombo to arrive at alternate explanations on his own. We're all

far more prone to accept our own ideas than someone else's. Starling might well able to get Bombo to

consider the idea that the UFO might not have been an alien spacecraft by employing Socratic

questioning. Named (quite obviously) for Socrates — the ancient Greek philosopher (also quite

obviously) — the Socratic questions are primarily teaching tools. Just as Bombo better accepts his own

ideas, so do students of all types. Socratic questioning helps people to take a second, closer look at their

own beliefs, and to apply critical thinking even when they least expect it.

There are six commonly described categories of Socratic questions, and they're all good. You could

familiarize yourself with any one of them, and you'd have a pretty good chance at changing Bombo's

mind, or that of anyone else who has made a conclusion based on faulty logic. An adept at all six types

of questions would be a formidable reformer of popular pseudoscience believers.

Let's begin with the first type:

1. Questions of Clarification

In order to engage Bombo's critical analysis of his own conclusion, we must first make certain that

Bombo's conclusion is clear in his own mind. For example:

Bombo: "I saw a UFO, and it was an alien spacecraft."

A great way to start is to make darn sure that Bombo understands the full force of what he's saying,

which (assuming his belief is invalid) almost always raises a fatal weakness. Let's see if we can get him to

clarify exactly what he's arguing:

Starling: "Just so I'm clear, do you mean you saw something unidentified, or you actually identified it as

something from another planet?"

That one question might be all it takes. Bombo might reflect for a moment, and then realize that all he

can really say is that he saw something that he couldn't identify. Discussion over; Starling 1, Bombo 0;

rationality 1, UFOlogy 0. However such an easy and early victory would not make this into much of an

episode, so throughout, we're going to proceed as if nothing sways Bombo.

Let us continue to clarify, and keep the focus on the invalid part of Bombo's claim.

Starling: "What exactly do you mean by alien?"

Keep the crosshairs on the target. If Bombo is going to promote his claim, we want to make sure his only

way out is to promote it very specifically and in no uncertain terms. Socratic questions of clarification

are a great way to do this. You can even ask something like this:

Starling: "Are you saying you found sufficient reason to conclude that what you witnessed was an actual

manned spacecraft from another planet?"

Of course, in reality, Bombo is likely to blurt out at any time:

Bombo: "What's with all these stupid questions? Do you think I'm lying, or what?"

He might reasonably say that now, or at any time during the rest of these categories, and it's a perfectly

natural response. But if or when he ever does say this, you've got a perfectly rational answer that even

Bombo can't disagree with:

Starling: "Wouldn't you agree these are important questions?"

Bombo's the one making the outlandish claim; he's always going to agree that questions clarifying his

claim are important. We can now move on to the assumptions Bombo has made that have allowed him

to make his conclusion.

2. Questions that Probe Assumptions

Remember it's not all about Bombo's specific claim; it's about the faulty assumptions he has made about

the world that give his claim a disguise of plausibility. So force Bombo to admit exactly what those

assumptions are:

Starling: "Sounds like you're assuming that aliens visit the Earth. Is that correct?"

That's one facet of his claim. It has others, so let's look at those as well. One thing that characterizes

many false claims is the existence of something that actually doesn't exist, like life force, ghosts, or other

things that the claim depends on. Here we can force Bombo to re-examine his ability to have identified

an alien spacecraft:

Starling: "What are the characteristics of alien spacecraft?"

Of course he doesn't know, and of course he agrees it's an important question. So it's always interesting

to see where he'll go from here. But, in my experience, sally forth he will. Push him harder.

Starling: "Should we take those assumptions as fact; or should we leave them open?"

Remember, when you're putting Bombo in a corner, any direction you push him is going to put him

further into the corner (insisting his assumptions be immune to question) or you're successfully getting

him to back down (admitting his assumptions should be considered open questions). Next let's see how

he got to the conclusion he did.

3. Questions that Probe Reasons and Evidence

Get Bombo to take another look at the quality of his evidence and the reasons he found it convincing.

Starling: "How were you able to make a positive identification of 'alien'?"

Of course there's no way he logically could have; but manage to, he did. If he's going to make a specific

claim, then he must have some reasoning or evidence behind it that led him there. That reasoning must

have allowed him to make this distinction:

Starling: "How would some secret new Earthly aircraft have behaved or appeared differently?"

Again, he's not going to know, so he either has to paint himself further into his corner, or he has to back

off and admit the weakness of his position. Either way, the Socratic questions are making progress.

Since the claim Bombo is making is a factual one, it's therefore testable. Most likely Bombo has not done

any actual testing that led to his conclusion, and neither has anyone else; but every factual claim must

be able to pass this question:

Starling: "How would you verify or disprove that the UFO was an alien spacecraft?"

Next let's see if we can get him to question his preconceived notions.

4. Questions about Viewpoints or Perspectives

Is Bombo's fundamental viewpoint logically invalid?

Starling: "You seem to have the perspective that anything unfamiliar to your personal experience must be

alien. Is that correct?"

This is not a straw man argument. What Bombo saw was unfamiliar, and he refused to allow the

possibility that there might be Earthly things in the sky that he didn't recognize. He did not conclude:

Bombo: "It's either an alien spacecraft, or it's something I don't recognize."

He said:

Bombo: "It's an alien spacecraft."

So it's a fair question. It's also fair to see if he might be simply repeating pop tripe:

Starling: "Have you ever seen anything in the media that might have influenced your identification?"

Or here's a good one. Get Bombo to honestly acknowledge what people from a different perspective

would conclude about his observation:

Starling: "How do you think people who don't believe in aliens might have identified what you saw, if

they'd seen it too?"

5. Questions that Probe Implications and Consequences

Pseudoscientific claims often imply facts that, if they were true, would have tremendous impacts on our

world. Think what a cure for cancer would do if it existed, or the implications if the government were

found to have faked the moon landing. Encourage Bombo to see that his claim would have similar

consequences; consequences that have so far failed to materialize:

Starling: "What do you think the consequences of this will be?"

Or:

Starling: "How would this change our knowledge of the universe?"

Obviously, it would overturn much of what we think we know. Don't you think someone in science or

government would have expressed an interest if so much of astrophysics were suddenly proven wrong?

Or even the practical implications for the day-to-day guy on the street:

Starling: "Do you think the news or the military should do anything about it?"

If Bombo's claim were true, the whole world would be in a huge fit. It's not; so what does Bombo have

to conclude?

6. Questions about the Question

At any time, as mentioned previously, Bombo is likely to attack the questions themselves. Skeptical

inquiry is, of course, the greatest enemy of falsehood. If that happens, ask something like this:

Starling: "Why do you think I'm asking these questions?"

Or:

Starling: "Are these questions making sense to you?"

And finally, the most important question, that you probably will have already had to ask by now:

Starling: "Do you think these are important questions that should be asked?"

...and it really is the most important question. Nobody in the world wants to admit that their position is

so tenuous that it can't withstand any questions, and so when put on the spot, they'll almost always

agree that the questions which might lead to their position being found true should be asked. Once in a

while you'll get:

Bombo: "No, my position is right, there's no point in questioning it."

...but even though he might say those words, he'll feel disingenuous even as they're coming out of his

mouth. And he will reflect to himself, either now or later, that his assumptions and

perspectives should be questioned. Because they should. Always. For everyone. On every subject. If your

facts are right, you'll breeze through such questions. Everyone should welcome them, no matter what

your perspective or your claim.

In fact, I'll go out on a limb. If anyone feels that Socratic questioning is unfair to their particular field, one

that the mainstream considers to be pseudoscience, email me. I'll be happy to do a specific episode

addressing this, and I'll be happy to include your comments.

Brian Dunning

© 2013 Skeptoid Media, Inc. Copyright information

References & Further Reading

Fadiman, C. Socrates and the Slave. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1958.

Fogler, H., Gürmen, M. "The Six Types of Socratic Questions." Strategies for Creative Problem

Solving. University of Michigan, 13 Sep. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

<http://www.umich.edu/~elements/probsolv/strategy/cthinking.htm>

Gower, B., Stokes, M. Socratic Questions: New Essays on the Philosophy of Socrates and Its

Significance. London: Routledge, 1992.

Hintikka, J. Socratic Epistemology: Explorations of Knowledge-Seeking by Questioning. New York:

Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Kirkland, S. The Ontology of Socratic Questioning in Plato's Early Dialogues. Albany: State University of

New York Press, 2012.

Wilcomb, R., Wilcox, M. "Socratic Questioning." Physics Teacher Education Program.Illinois State

University, 4 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.

<http://www.phy.ilstu.edu/pte/310content/case_studies/resources/socratic_questioning.pdf>