Promptologia
The Socratic Way of Prompting · New Edition 2026

Better questions, better answers. Learn to think with AI the Socratic way.

Ask better questions, get better answers: an AI guide for students aged 17 to 22.

Launching soon. One email when the book is ready, nothing else. (Mockup form – not functional)

A guide for students

The Socratic Way of Prompting

New Edition · 2026
Sotiris Makrygiannis
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What is Socratic prompting?

Socrates did not hand out answers. He asked questions until the thinking got clearer. Prompting an AI works the same way: the better your question, the better your answer, and the more you learn.

Weak promptWrite my essay on WW1.
You get an essay you did not think through.
Socratic promptI am writing a 1,500-word essay on the causes of World War I. Ask me three questions that help me find my own thesis. Then challenge the strongest argument I give you.
The AI helps you think instead of thinking for you.
Weak promptExplain photosynthesis.
You get a summary you can nod along to.
Socratic promptExplain photosynthesis to someone who knows basic chemistry but no biology. Then quiz me with three questions, one at a time, and tell me why any wrong answer is wrong.
You learn it, and you find out what you really understood.
Weak promptIs this answer right?
You get a yes or no, and no way to tell why.
Socratic promptWhat would have to be true for your answer to be wrong? Which claims can I check, and where could I verify each one?
You treat the answer as a claim to test, not a fact to copy.

The Socratic Loop

Four moves you can repeat with any AI, on any subject.

A

Ask

Step one

Start with a clear, honest question. Say what you know and what you want to understand.

C

Challenge

Step two

Push back. Ask for the weak points, the assumptions and the other side of the argument.

T

Test

Step three

Check it against sources, examples and your own reasoning before you trust it.

R

Refine

Step four

Improve the question using what you learned, then go round the loop again.

Ask → Challenge → Test → Refine → Ask again
The book at a glance

Sixteen chapters, one habit of mind.

From the power of asking questions to ethics, verification and your own digital twin, written for students who want to use AI to think better, not less.

16chapters
4steps in the loop
17–22age group
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  1. Power of Asking Questions
  2. Metacognition and Metanoia
  3. Trees and Loops
  4. Meet Socrates
  5. Understanding AI
  6. Learning
  7. Problem-Solving
  8. Creativity
  9. Productivity
  10. Career
  11. Health and Wellbeing
  12. Hard Questions
  13. Lyrics, Media and Cruelty
  14. Ethics and Verification
  15. AI Agents and Your Digital Twin
  16. Conclusion
10Socratic questions to ask any AI
Free sample

10 Socratic questions to ask any AI

A one-page starter you can use today, whatever you are studying. Free, with no strings attached.

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About the author

Sotiris Makrygiannis

Engineer · Founder of AIA Labs

Sotiris is an engineer and founder. He worked at Nokia before founding AIA Labs, where he builds AI products.

He wrote this book to share the habit that serves him best with AI: asking better questions.

Be first to read it.

Launching soon. Join the waitlist and we will send you one email when the book is ready, along with the free sample.

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