Socratic+Questions


 * [[image:Socreatic Questions.jpg]] ||
 * Problem Solving: the big  question

Before you can solve a problem, you must recognize your limitations. Then overcome them. **Your natural limitations include:** 1. There is an emotional dimension to almost every thought that we have and every decision that we make. It can overwhelm your power to reason. Alexander Pope," What reason weaves, by passion is undone." 2.We are driven to view the world around us in terms of patterns, which it recognizes based on memories of past experiences. This is not a conscious process, but we need to recognize that it exists before we can break free and think outside of these patterns. For example, we depend on patterns in situations and events - the lights go out, we know it's the power and fire up a flash light; we put mail in the mailbox and know the mail man is coming at a certain time. But our compulsion to see patterns can easily mislead us when we analyze problems. 3. We instinctively rely on, and are susceptible to biases and assumptions. The mechanism of bias, like other mental traits are instinctive and out of our control - it is not a conscious process. Most of the time these biases are positive, as they help us repeat an action without going through all of the mental steps that led to the original act. For example, brewing coffee a certain way, driving, muscle actions in sports all are reconditioned responses. While biases enable us to process new information extremely rapidly by taking mental short cuts, the speed of this unconscious process has the unfortunate effect of strengthening and validating our biases at the expense of truth. We tend to give high value to information that is consistent with our biases, while rejecting new information - like a deadly virus killing objective truth.

All problems can be categorized in terms of the roles that //Facts// and //Judgment// play in the analysis of the problem. It is true that, the fewer facts we have, the more we rely on judgments to solve a problem, the more facts, the less judgment. So be wary of conclusions that are based largely on judgment, not facts. People will still defend their judgmental opinions as if they were bald truth (human nature dictates that confidence in conjectured and subjective opinions is very strong).
 * Dissecting the Problem: **

1. Clarification: why do you say that? Could you explain further? 2. Assumptions: challenging the assumptions. Is this always the case? 3. Evidence as the basis of an argument: Is there reason to doubt this evidence? 4. Alternative viewpoints and perspectives: What is the counter argument? What is another point of view? 5. Implications and Consequences: what if this happened? What are the results of these actions? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">6. Question the question: why is this question important? Which are the useful questions?
 * <span style="color: #ae1435; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Socratic Questioning **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">1. Restate your problem. Define it.
 * <span style="color: #ae1435; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">The toolkit for problem solving according to the experts: **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">the problem is different depending on your perspective
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">look at the problem from those various perspectives
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">restate the problem from those perspectives

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">2. Make a list of Pros and Cons for each problem fix that you have
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">review, consolidate, merge and eliminate your lists
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">you are organizing the problem in a logical way so that each element can be analyzed separately, systematically

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">3. Divergent thinking is the goal: the more ideas the better <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">4. Play the devil's advocate and prove the opposite - this promotes objectivity and could find new evidence, evidence that was ignored or rejected by the prime argument ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">build ideas onto one another: don't judge, second guess, let them flow
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">silly ideas are good too - they lead in the right direction and free up the brain to think freely
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">make a mind map and cluster your ideas