Pin down the word
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
Recorded by Plato · Euthyphro 5d–6e
Big claims hide in fuzzy words: 'natural', 'best', 'proven', 'toxic'. Ask what the key word means and the claim often shrinks to something checkable, or to nothing.
Euthyphro defines holiness as 'doing what I am doing now, prosecuting the wrongdoer'. Socrates asks instead for the one aspect all holy acts share: 'Tell me then what this aspect is, that I may keep my eye fixed upon it and employ it as a model.' (6e)