Socratic questioning, a way towards first-principles thinking

09 May 2020

Recently, started reading The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts by Shane Parrish and came across Socratic Questioning in the chapter on first principles thinking.

Anything that is not a law of nature is just a shared belief. Money is a shared belief. So is a border. So are bitcoin. So is love. The list goes on.

Socratic Questioning is a method that can help us reflect on our thinking process. This can help us from relying on our gut and limit strong emotional responses. We can cut through the fog of dogma and shared beliefs to identify unchanging principles.

Methods are many. Principles are few.

Socratic Questioning generally follows the following process:

• CLARIFYING YOUR THINKING AND EXPLAINING THE ORIGINS OF YOUR IDEAS
  • Why do I think this?
  • What exactly do I think?
• CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS
  • How do I know if this is true?
  • What if I thought the opposite?
• LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE
  • How can I back this up?
  • What are the sources?
• CONSIDERING ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVES
  • What might others think?
  • How do I know I am correct?
• EXAMINING CONSEQUENCES AND IMPLICATIONS
  • What if I am wrong?
  • What are the consequences if I am wrong?
• QUESTIONING THE ORIGINAL QUESTIONS
  • Why did I think that?
  • Was I correct?
  • What conclusions can I draw from the reasoning process?

This process of reflection or an alternative of this called FIVE WHYS is useful in understanding deeply the root cause of what we observe or think. There is no doubt that both of these methods slow us down in the short term but reap huge rewards in terms of limiting emotional responses, better thought process and better decision making in long term.

Science is much more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of thinking. – Carl Sagan