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What Socrates Can Teach Us About Influence
Questioning and the Omniscient Soul
Socrates never wrote things down.
Does that seem odd to you? Even though he’s possibly the most well-known ancient philosopher in history, he didn’t write things down. We rely on the writing of people like Plato for insight into Socratic concepts.
I’m glad Plato wrote things down, because we can learn a lot about influence and personal development from Socrates. Like the following…
QUESTIONS ARE THE ANSWER.
Most of Plato’s dialogues feature Socrates engaging in conversation with an ‘interlocutor’, a person who serves as his student.
There are many times in these conversations where Socrates could come out with a lecture or speech to explain why his student is wrong, or what the student’s ideas are missing, but he rarely does. Socrates believed the best way to engage with philosophy and knowledge was through dialogue. So instead, he asked questions. Thoughtful, probing questions. A shitload of them.
Most of the time, he was more a facilitator of questions than a giver of answers. (He’d be an annoying but insightful friend, I imagine).
He didn’t pretend to know everything. Sometimes, he would even ask for help…
