Socrates was known for learning how other people saw the world by asking them a lot of questions. In the process, he often got them to recognize flaws and discrepancies in their own thinking. This style has since become known as the Socratic method and is used in some debate groups. Little kids also use the Socratic method (likely without knowing its origin) to learn about their world by repeatedly asking questions to anyone who’ll listen to them.
One of my closest friends introduced me to this technique many years ago by using it in our discussions and debates. This was long before I ever read about it or understood how it worked. All I knew at the time was that he was (and still is) really good at using it to trap me in my own logic and make me see things differently. The fact that he also remained calm and avoided attacking me in favor of focusing on the ideas made his approach incredibly effective and kept our exchanges civil even when we talked about highly sensitive subjects.
Although I haven’t used this much in discussions, I’ve found it to be incredibly useful for learning more about myself. Repeatedly asking myself why makes me think long and hard about a lot of things, such as why I hold certain positions and not others, why I act the way I do, and why I enjoy the hobbies and interests I’ve chosen. If someone else uses the Socratic method on me, I can easily become defensive and avoid examining my thought processes. When I use it on myself, however, I can drop my guard much more easily and take more of an honest look at what I think and why I think the way that I do. If any of this sounds interesting to you, then you’d probably enjoy giving this a try. If you do try it and find out some intriguing things about yourself as a result, I’d love to hear about them.