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How to Learn the Socratic Method
The ancient two-column technique demonstrated by Socrates
Most people have heard of the “Socratic Method”, or “Socratic Questioning”, although few realize how that method was originally used by ancient philosophers. I think it would also surprise them to discover that in order to train his students in this method of thinking, Socrates employed a simple diagram, and what cognitive therapists today call the “Two-Column” method.
In this article, I’ll explain how similar techniques are used today in cognitive psychotherapy and self-help, how Socrates taught students his original technique, and how I think it could be adapted for modern skills-training workshops in the Socratic Method. This won’t be a comprehensive explanation, therefore, of how to do the Socratic Method, as that has several aspects, and it would take a whole book to cover all of them. (See Ward Farnsworth’s recent book, The Socratic Method, for a good introduction.) What we will do here, though, is explore how to do a very simple technique, which teaches some of the foundational skills required for the Socratic Method.
Every day, cognitive therapists around the world use variations of this tried-and-tested technique with their clients.
Two-Column Methods in Cognitive Therapy
Every day, cognitive therapists around the world use variations of this tried-and-tested technique with their clients. Typically, a client will have identified an unhealthy or troubling intrusive thought, or a deeper belief, which they have agreed to re-evaluate collaboratively with their therapist. For example, a depressed client might have the belief “Nobody likes me!”
The therapist would draw two columns on a flip-chart headed “Evidence for” and “Evidence against”. The client is then helped to brainstorm items to put under each column, and maybe to rate how good each piece of “evidence” is, i.e., whether it’s strong or weak evidence. By thinking things through more systematically, the client can then be helped to re-evaluate and modify some of their own beliefs. Of course, this may have to be repeated several times, perhaps as homework, and it’s always combined with…
