Elenchus: the Cross-Examination

The formal name for Socrates's technique is elenchus — systematic cross-examination. It follows a pattern: get a clear claim, find an implication of that claim, show the implication contradicts something the person also believes, and force them to revise their position.

Take the claim: "Justice is giving people what they deserve." Socrates would ask: what about returning a borrowed weapon to a friend who has gone insane? It is their property, so they deserve it back. But handing a weapon to a madman seems deeply unjust. The tidy definition collapses, and the search for a better one begins.