A question puts pressure on whoever receives it. If you ask questions of yourself, you are the recipient of the pressure. That’s good. Stating an opinion is roughly the opposite. It releases pressure. Pressure is uncomfortable, so most people think and talk in opinions. But the unpressured mind tends toward laxity and corruption. A true Socratic dialogue is an exercise in which the pressure is intense: a full-court press. But the pressure can be kept healthier, even if less intense, anytime. Some people have dangerously low blood pressure; in others the Socratic pressure is too low. It can be
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