Example of Socratic Discourse
Revealing the answer to "Why is everyone and everything always against me?"
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Transcript
Example of a Socratic Discussion
Starting question:
Me (agitated): “WHY IS EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ALWAYS AGAINST ME?!”
Name facts & perception of facts:
Yiri: “Why do you think that…?”
Me: “ARGH! I was in the store and everyone was in my way and the line was too long and people cut in front of me and then it started to rain! EVERYTHING HATES ME!!”
Keep QUESTIONING… & questioning… & questioning:
Yiri: “Why was it so crowded?”
Me: “It always is around 5 o’clock - when everyone leaves work and they pop in the store for a few quick errands…”
Yiri: “So why did you go shopping at that time?”
Me: “I had to finish a comic before five so I couldn’t go out earlier…”
Yiri: “Why were you late finishing your comic?”
Me: “I only started at one, because I slept until twelve…”
Yiri: “Why did you sleep so late?”
Me: “Er, because I was playing a game on the Wii until 3AM…”
…until the CORE QUESTION is revealed and formulated:
Me: “So?! I work hard! Can’t I relax once in a while?”
Yiri: “So the core question is…”
HOW CAN I STRUCTURE WORK AND RELAXATION IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT DOESN’T DRIVE ME MAD?
Yiri: “Or put simply in six words…”
HOW DO I BALANCE MY LIFE?
Look for GENERAL RULES…
Me: “Good question! My mother would say: you gotta have Rest, Cleanliness and Regularity! But what does that mean? Do I have to vacuum every day? Set an alarm? I usually thrive on a little chaos! So what works for ME…?”
Keep evaluating your own experience…
Yiri: “The times you could relax most were those when you had met your deadlines…”
Me: “True. And I handle deadlines best by chopping a project in sizeable chunks… (sketching, mailing, inking, coloring, finish up) If I concentrate on one chunk at a time… and reward myself with a bit of relaxation after each chunk… This does the trick!”
Formulate a GENERALLY VALID PRINCIPLE
Yiri: “So: PLANNING BRINGS BALANCE”
Me: “Well said!”
Yiri: “Great conclusion!”
Me: “And now back to the game! Woohoo!”
Assignment & Questions for further discussion
(You can do this in groups of two or three, but also on your own)
Pick a very personal, specific starting question and, using the Socratic Method, keep asking questions about it until you can formulate a generally valid statement.
Can this be done with any question, you think?
Why is it important to test these questions against personal experience?
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Socrates was a smart dude!
I love this one so much.