The Method of Socratic Proofs

This book contains a systematic and formal attempt to model solutions to problems such as: Is it possible to prove a question? Is it possible to prove something by the use of questions? Do the existing paradigms in the logic of questions allow one to combine questions and proofs? What are the results in this field? In developing answers, the book focuses on the applications of the method of Socratic proofs, and goes beyond that. It starts out with an overview of the leading paradigms, issues, problems and ready solutions in the logic of questions, and places Inferential Erotetic Logic and the method of Socratic proofs against a wider background. It then introduces these two methods in more detail and explains how they can be used for classical logic, intuitionistic propositional logic and for basic modal logics. Next, the book deals with issues specific to the field of the logic of questions, introducing the tools of Minimal Erotetic Semantics (MiES). The final chapters describe the translations between proof systems: from a Socratic transformation, derived in an erotetic calculus, into a sequent system.