A question can change a life.
In Apology, Socrates’ wisdom consists partly in refusing to think himself knowledgeable when he is not. This insight does not claim that all knowledge is impossible. It opens an inquiry by preventing confidence, reputation or habit from standing in for evidence.
Before defending an opinion, distinguish what you have checked, what you assume and what you still do not know.
The questioning often called elenchus examines a claim and its consequences. An interlocutor may discover that several cherished beliefs are incompatible. The resulting impasse, or aporia, need not be a failure: it reveals what must be defined more carefully before the inquiry can continue.
If you say that courage means feeling no fear, ask whether someone who acts despite fear is less courageous.
The Socratic character urges people to care for the quality of their character rather than merely seek wealth, status or power. Here, “soul” concerns, among other things, what makes us capable of judging and acting. The dialogues explore its meanings without all presenting the same doctrine.
Evaluate a success by also asking what habits it helped you acquire and how it affected your relationships with others.
Several dialogues attribute to Socrates the idea that moral error is linked to misunderstanding the good. Often called moral intellectualism, this position does not simply mean that every educated person is virtuous. It asks us to examine what we take to be truly beneficial.
When a decision seems profitable but unjust, question the word “profitable”: for whom, for how long, and at what moral cost?