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Utilize this method From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method Description of the method: Elenchus (Ancient Greek: ἔλεγχος elengkhos “argument of disproof or refutation; cross-examining, testing, scrutiny esp. for purposes of refutation” [4]) is the central technique of the Socratic method. The Latin form elenchus (plural elenchi ) is used in English as the technical philosophical term.[5] “If you ask a question or series of questions in which your respondent can readily agree, then ask a concluding question based on those agreements, you will receive a desirable response”.[citation needed] In Plato's early dialogues, the elenchus is the technique Socrates uses to investigate, for example, the nature or definition of ethical concepts such as justice or virtue. According to one general characterization,[6] it has the following steps: Socrates' interlocutor asserts a thesis, for example “Courage is endurance of the soul”, which Socrates considers false and targets for refutation. Socrates secures his interlocutor's agreement to further premises, for example “Courage is a fine thing” and “Ignorant endurance is not a fine thing”. Socrates then argues, and the interlocutor agrees, that these further premises imply the contrary of the original thesis, in this case it leads to: “courage is not endurance of the soul”. Socrates then claims that he has shown that his interlocutor's thesis is false and that its contrary is true. One elenctic examination can lead to a new, more refined, examination of the concept being considered, in this case it invites an examination of the claim: “Courage is wise endurance of the soul”. Most Socratic inquiries consist of a series of elenchi and typically end in aporia. Frede[7] insists that step #4 above makes nonsense of the aporetic nature of the early dialogues. If any claim has shown to be true then it can not be the case that the interlocutors are in aporia, a state where they no longer know what to say about the subject under discussion. The exact nature of the elenchus is subject to a great deal of debate, in particular concerning whether it is a positive method, leading to knowledge, or a negative method used solely to refute false claims to knowledge. The Socratic method is a negative method of hypotheses elimination, in that better hypotheses are found by steadily identifying and eliminating those that lead to contradictions. The Socratic method searches for general, commonly held truths that shape opinion, and scrutinizes them to determine their consistency with other beliefs. The basic form is a series of questions formulated as tests of logic and fact intended to help a person or group discover their beliefs about some topic, exploring the definitions or logoi (singular logos), seeking to characterize the general characteristics shared by various particular instances. To the extent to which this method is designed to bring out definitions implicit in the interlocutors' beliefs, or to help them further their understanding, it was called the method of maieutics. Aristotle attributed to Socrates the discovery of the method of definition and induction, which he regarded as the essence of the scientific method. Perhaps oddly, however, Aristotle also claimed that this method is not suitable for ethics. According to W. K. C. Guthrie's The Greek Philosophers, while sometimes erroneously believed to be a method by which one seeks the answer to a problem, or knowledge, the Socratic method was actually intended to demonstrate one's ignorance. Socrates, unlike the Sophists, did believe that knowledge was possible, but believed that the first step to knowledge was recognition of one's ignorance. Guthrie writes, “[Socrates] was accustomed to say that he did not himself know anything, and that the only way in which he was wiser than other men was that he was conscious of his own ignorance, while they were not. The essence of the Socratic method is to convince the interlocutor that whereas he thought he knew something, in fact he does not.”
