Seven Socratic prompts I actually use with AI

In the last post I wrote about why the Socratic method works. The most common reply was a practical one: so what do you actually type? This post is the answer. These are the seven questions I attach after the first answer, taken from conversations I really had with Claude while running my company.

None of them is new. Socrates was asking all seven in the Athenian agora. The only thing that changed is that the other side no longer gets tired.

One: why is that so

Ask for the reason before accepting the answer. An answer without a reason has to be memorised. An answer with a reason can be rebuilt later.

While moving my company domain I was told that a CNAME record cannot sit on the apex domain. I could have just complied. Instead I asked why. The answer explained that the apex must always carry other records and a CNAME cannot coexist with them. Since then, whenever a service advertises "CNAME at the apex", I know it is the service working around the rule, not the rule changing.

Two: give me one case where that does not hold

This is the counterexample question Socrates used on every definition. A rule is not a sentence, it is a boundary, and the boundary only appears when you push on it.

Selling software licences, I was told that licences are counted per developer. I asked for one case where that is not true. Other products count servers or users, and the same product can differ between a single project and many. Customers ask exactly these questions. Taking the counterexample early means not being caught out later.

Three: does that apply to my situation

This pulls the general answer down to my problem. I add my company size, budget, deadline and what is already in place.

After opening a new site I found the domain on our e-commerce business registration was the old one. That the law gives fifteen days to file a change is general knowledge. Then I asked: I have already opened the site and published prices. Do I have to take it down until the change is filed? No. The law requires filing, not shutting down. Same clause, but only with my situation in it does it tell me what to do today.

Four: did you not say something different a moment ago

Pointing out a contradiction. Hard to do to a person, costless with AI, so I use it often.

I was adding a permission to a hosting service to collect visitor statistics. The AI named a permission. I added it and nothing worked. I asked: did you not say this one would do? Only then did a similarly named but different permission come up, which was the one actually needed. Without that question I would have spent an hour adding permissions at random.

Five: let me say it in my own words, is that right

This is where feeling that you understand and actually understanding part ways. If I could keep only one of the seven, it would be this one.

Back to the domain. After the explanation I said: so www is a CNAME and the apex is an A record, is that what you mean? Yes. From that moment the knowledge was mine. Until I said it in my own sentence I was only reading the AI's sentences. Being told I am wrong is fine too. The wrong spot is exactly what I did not know.

Six: how much damage if I get this wrong right now

Not a knowledge question but a risk question. For someone who actually has to act, this one comes first.

Just before changing the domain records I asked how long the site would be down if I entered a wrong value, and how long it takes to revert. Only then did I touch anything. Same with the registration change: what happens if I miss the deadline? A schedule of fines came back, and suddenly urgent and not urgent were separated. Once you know the risk, postponing becomes a decision instead of neglect.

Seven: what will someone who does not know this ask next

I ask the AI for the next question, because I do not know what I do not know.

After the domain move I asked where someone who got this far usually gets stuck next. Certificates and proxy settings, it said. A few days later that is exactly where I got stuck, and I already knew where to look. This question keeps the conversation going for another hour, and that hour saves a day the following week.

The seven on one page

Question	When	What you get
Why is that so	On the first answer	Knowledge you can rebuild
One case where it does not hold	When an answer sounds like a rule	The boundary of the rule
Does it apply to my situation	When the answer is general	Today's task
Did you not say otherwise earlier	When answers conflict	A wrong answer, caught
In my own words, is that right	When you think you understand	Knowledge that is yours
How much damage if I am wrong	Right before acting	Grounds for a decision
What comes next	When it feels finished	A day saved next week

You do not need them in order. When an answer leaves you stuck, pick one. A single question is search. Everything after the first answer is dialogue.