Elenchus

The elenchus (ἔλεγχος) is the method of Socrates — a word meaning 'testing', 'scrutiny', or 'refutation', with an older sense of 'putting to shame'. It is the engine of the early Platonic dialogues: the relentless cross-examination by which Socrates questions those who claim to know.

How it works

Socrates asks his partner for a definition — of courage, of piety, of justice — then draws out further beliefs the partner also holds, and shows that these contradict the definition. The proposed answer collapses, and the interlocutor is brought to aporia, the perplexity of discovering that he did not know what he thought he knew.

The point of refutation

The elenchus looks merely destructive, but its purpose is purifying. By exposing the false conceit of knowledge it clears the ground for genuine inquiry and makes humility possible — for Socrates' own wisdom lay only in knowing that he did not know. It enacts the Delphic 'know thyself', and embodies his conviction that the unexamined life is not worth living. It is the practical face of philosophy as care of the soul, and the seed from which dialectic grew.