Socratic Design™

Socratic Design is a pragmatical philosophical approach that can deliver radical transformation on persons, groups, educational and NGO organizations, businesses, and governments. These entities all share the same (cultural) assumptions; they’re all products of the same type of thinking. Most of these assumptions were functional in the past but could be a burden in the future (” Man is a man a wolf”). Socratic design solves the paradox that we cannot use our actual way of thinking to solve our burning problems.

We, humans, have made erratic decisions in the past about men and the world. A lot of problems that we face now, we are trying to solve with the thinking that produced these problems in the first place,
because; we all cherish the assumption that we are rational thinking creatures. But addictive thoughts that are active in our mind limits our thinking. Socratic design solves the paradox that we cannot use our actual way of thinking to solve our real burning problems.

We face disruptive developments, a lot of them caused by technological innovation, a lot of them caused by ecological and societal factors. We need another way of intelligence to create new assumptions to create new narratives that are free of the burdens of the past.

To solve the paradox, Socratic Design facilitates another process of thinking: we do not debate or discuss, we transform the participants from ego-oriented rational actors into participants of a collective mind. We apply the art of listening and several other tools like Socratic dialogue and interviews, value cascade, appreciative inquiry, and rigorous analysis of our assumptions.

With the collective attention of a group, you can analise personal assumptions of participants, ( “I can think rationally”, “Only facts counts,” “Men is an egoist,”)also assumptions of the organization or business are at stake.

By instigating the sharp collective creative intelligence, we can look from a distance at our practice. ¨We can create an entirely new context in which we formulate our values and our purposes based on new assumptions.

The Socratic design creates a new context simultaneously for the inner world and your outer world. If we leave the thinking mode intact, the plans about our world will fade away due to our addictive habits and thoughts. If we only transform our minds, we will collide with the harsh reality.

We make future strategic scenarios that unleash a lot of vital energy because we free the individuals from their burden of destructive thoughts and assumptions.

A bright future implies the good interaction between the inside of us and the external world.