Here, professor Warren Smith, talks about why the Socratic Method is so powerful for debating, especially the method's employment of asking questions, rather than directly attacking a person's claims. I suggest checking out the video, but in a nutshell, here is why asking questions works so well to get to the truth:
- It removes the person's ego from the equation. If you ask a question, rather than directly attack their claim, the other person is engaging with the question rather than with you and your perceived attack on their ego.
- When questioned, people give the answer in their own words, which helps us better define what exactly they mean and what we are talking about.
- It allows you to debate someone without them realizing they are debating, while still offering the possibility that they might be right.
- The purpose of asking questions is establishing that the issue at hand is either 1) more complicated than they assumed, or 2) arriving at the more objective truth.
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