Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Elenchus
/ɪˈlɛŋkəs/noun
The Socratic method of questioning that leads an interlocutor to contradict his own stated belief.
The Greek roots
ἔλεγχος
élenkhos
cross-examination, refutation
Literally: “a putting to the test”
Follow a root:ἔλεγχος1 word
The story of the word
In Homer ἔλεγχος means disgrace, the shame that sticks to a coward, and only later does it mean the argument that produces the shame. Socrates keeps the older flavour: the point is not to win but to leave the man aware that he did not know what he claimed. Aristotle's handbook on bad arguments is titled Περὶ σοφιστικῶν ἐλέγχων, On Sophistical Refutations, which is where the fallacy called ignoratio elenchi, missing the point at issue, gets its name.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
elencticignoratio elenchi
In a sentence
Three questions into the elenchus, the witness had contradicted his own opening statement.