this is Socrates 2 and a half thousand years ago he developed a method of learning that is so powerful it's still used by some of the greatest thinkers today it'll help you become a better student a better thinker and better at understanding the world today we're going to explore how you can use socrates's system the Socratic method to get ahead in your studying and learning but first a warning the ancient Greeks were so intimidated by socrates's brain power and his methods that they sentenced him to death hopefully that won't happen to you [Music] back in about 400 BC Socrates wered the markets of Athens these were bustling places filled with the Aromas of lavender and basil probably Merchants haggling animals darting about their pens and Shoppers Socrates approached strangers to speak to them but this wasn't Small Talk he enjoyed confusing people by asking penetrating questions like does being deceitful count as being immoral socr had a razor sharp intellect he didn't like to wash and was quite dirty and smelly but if that didn't scare people off he would challenge every answer with another question each time causing the presumably now quite perplexed Chopper to think more deeply and carefully about the answer he showed them they didn't know what they thought they knew he encouraged people to question authority question assumptions and challenge the status quo which is probably why they ended up killing him but the Socratic method lives on and it played a vital role in the development of critical thinking and Western philosophical ideas Socrates wasn't asking questions because he wanted to be annoying he just wanted to improve people's thinking and he was way ahead of his time okay so how do you apply the Socratic method to learning remember this it's a clue you know when you're reading a book the words are going in but it's quite a passive process the book's filling you up with facts but you're not engaging with the ideas the Socratic method completely transforms this and turns reading into a puzzle it's a bit like an episode of Columbo you're given the answer but you have to work out how to get there and you do that by asking six types of questions you've seen the first type twice now they're clarifying questions but the Socratic method actually starts before then here's one way of doing it before you open your book reflect on what you already know about the subject write down any assumptions you have this helps you become aware of your biases what comes next it's the clarifying questions identify points that challenge or confirm your initial assumptions consider why and how they do this this is an important step it clarifies your understanding and identifies areas you need to explore further three ask probing questions use the text to generate questions about the subject look for underlying assumptions in the book create potential counterarguments four test hypotheses develop hypothesis or interpretations based on your reading how do they hold up against evidence in the book and from other sources five engage in dialogue it's not always possible but if you can discuss the subject with others this allows you to test ideas and find New Perspectives six reflect after reading and writing reflect on what you've learned what have you learned what do you need to explore and clarify do any new questions arise from your learning remember at school or university it's easy to see learning as a one-way process it's like where empty vessels being filled with knowledge by a teacher but that's not how learning works at all learning isn't prescriptive it's about figuring things out and challenging ideas and exploring topics with thought so get exploring Socrates knew that and so did Columbo now in part two of this video I'm going to delve into this process in a little bit more detail and I also want to share a book on this subject which I found really helpful what are you doing I'm learning backend development online explain the paraphernalia I like to watch the paintt dry it helps to stop me getting bored ah you need boot dodev what's that it's the smartest way to learn backend development you'll learn everything from start to finish in the python and go programming languages but how does it stop me getting bored because those clever people at boot. deev have made learning backend development feel like a captivating RPG game do you know the only real way to learn coding paint no writing code and with a boot dodev platform you'll write a ton of it but what if I get stuck if you ever struggle to understand a concept boots a powerful bear wizard that's been trained on each lesson can walk you through your issues he's an AI that will ask you questions to help you understand rather than hand you the answers are there any other benefits to using boot. Dev yes the boot dodev Discord Community is active and there to help if you ever get stuck on your coding challenges so what about my paint you won't be needing that that's actually more convenient are you being paid to tell me this yes this is a sponsored video well can you give me a discount then please certainly click the link in the description box and use my code to get 25% off your first month or even your entire first year if you choose the annual plan it infuriates me that during 13 years of school 13 years of school no one ever taught me this stuff we were set homework we were told to go away and learn things but at no point did they spend even five minutes telling us how we should learn we were just expected to Som know that bit and that's the most important bit when I think of all the time I've spent trying to learn stuff when I was a kid and when I was younger and the methods I used were just rubbish I was never going to learn it properly these obvious now methods I mean maybe I should have realized and gone off and sort worked it out on my own but I don't think most people do when I started using this learning technique it made a huge difference to my ability to learn things understand them and to deepen my insight so use it it will make a difference to the way you learn and the outcomes what I want to do is work through uh a short example I don't want to spend ages on this but I want to give you more of an idea of how to do it so we're going to look at photosynthesis as a as a concept that most people know something about and we're going to look at how you might use Socratic questioning and the Socratic method to deepen your knowledge about photosynthesis so you ready okay let's go the first thing you need to do is clarify the basics so simple question what is phot photosynthesis make sure that you understand what that is if that's what you're trying to learn if it's not photosynthesis that you're trying to learn do it with the topic that you are working on and then as a follow up you might ask what are the essential components needed for photosynthesis to occur next we'll probe some assumptions so why do plants need sunlight for photosynthesis and then could photosynthesis occur without sunlight if not why not and then we'll try to delve a Little Deeper by asking something like how do we know chlorophyll is essential for photosynthesis and what would happen to photosyn synthesis if a plant was deprived of chlorophyll and then you might want to look at wider implications so what would happen to life on Earth if photosynthesis didn't exist how would the absence of oxygen affect other life forms you also want to try to ask questions that enable you to look at things from other perspectives so in this case you would ask or you could ask how does photosynthesis in Plants differ from photosynthesis in certain bacteria what are the advantages and disadvantages of this other type of photosynthesis the point of this style of questioning is to uncover what you know what you think you know whether there are any uh flaws or holes in the knowledge that you think you have and where they exist so that you can address that that was an admittedly quite short and shallow look at the Socratic method uh I didn't want to get too esoteric and I wanted to keep it as general as possible my advice would be that if you want to use the Socratic method to learn and you should because it's incredibly effective then you just go online and see how to apply it to the particular fi that you want to use it the Socratic method is fantastic for sharpening your critical thinking and it's a skill that I don't think's taught enough and you know it can be off putting when you say critical thinking I like to think of it as the used car method so when we're learning uh we tend to trust the source that we're learning from whether that's a book or a teacher and I'm not saying that you shouldn't trust it but I'm saying that you should question it just like you would if you walked into a car sales room and you wanted to buy a used car you might be a little bit suspicious why are you trying to sell me this car when you tell me this is it true can I believe it you suddenly you have a different mindset and I think that's the mindset you should have when you're learning just try to question everything you're being told not because you're suspicious of it but because you want to understand it don't just think of it as a a situation where it's a transfer of information from a book to your brain because the way to learn it the best is for you to question the ideas behind the the words that are in the book and what you're being told question question question finally there is a book that I want to recommend I've only got it on the Kindle it is called the Socratic method I think uh because normally I like to be able to show uh show the book the physical book but I can't do that yes it's called the Socratic method it's by Ward Farnsworth it was the highest rated book on Amazon it's also the highest rated book on the subject that I could find on Goodreads it has some really good reviews on Goodreads I think it's uh it gives a little bit of a history of Socrates it talks about the Plato dialogues which is how we know about Socrates because Socrates didn't write anything down it gives examples of Socrates using the Socratic method and then in the final two chapters it tells you how you can apply it to your particular use case it's excellent and if you're looking for a book I'd start with that one