The book by the American jurist is dedicated to the Socratic dialogue - one of the effective and proven tools for building correct reasoning - left to us by ancient philosophy. In the author’s interpretation, Socrates’ method is contrasted with the thoughtless and superficial making of categorical judgments, which is stimulated by modern Internet communication. “If I had to express the antithesis of the Socratic method in one word, I would use the word ‘Twitter,’” writes Ward Farnsworth. At the center of his criticism is the inability of modern man, all over the world, to think critically and independently, questioning values and opinions sanctified by tradition, supported by habit or imposed by power. It is the inability to think in the Socratic way that the book portrays as the background to “all the riot of ignorance and hypocrisy that characterizes current political discourse.” Here is the Socratic method in its most primitive form: when someone declares that something is good or bad, right or wrong , immediately question such speech. Ask what such a statement means, compare it with other statements of the interlocutor and try to find a contradiction; Using leading questions, show that the statement made does not completely satisfy even the one who voiced it. Essentially, you deny what the other person said, but you do it skillfully. If you do everything correctly, then it won’t even sound like denial. Then the interlocutor will try to clarify his thesis, and you will again begin to look for a contradiction in it, and so on.

For whom

This book is for those who value doubt and are ready to subject any established the truth. In addition, for those who are infuriated by social networks, dogmatists of any type are irritated and state television is outraged. We must always have an opposition party working within us - a principle that constantly challenges what we think we know. The inner Socrates is a worthy opponent.