7 evenings with Socrates
The Decision You Keep Circling
Seven short evenings of Socratic examination: define the choice, separate knowledge from performance, test whose judgment matters, and leave with a decision letter in your own words.
Your seven core reflections and mentor responses are included, even when your ordinary chat allowance is exhausted. There is no streak to protect. Your private words stay inside your Sage account.
The first evening
Name the thing
Every evening begins with a brief sourced passage, then turns toward your actual situation. The mentor examines; you decide.
Before judging whether an action is right, Socrates asks for the single idea that makes all examples belong to the same name. A definition must come before a verdict.Adapted from Plato’s Euthyphro 6d–6e · Benjamin Jowett
A decision stays foggy when several different questions are hiding inside one sentence.
What decision are you actually trying to make—stated in one sentence, without defending either answer?
What you leave with
A decision map in your own words
After the seventh response, Sage gathers the exact reflections you saved into an editable letter. It starts with where you now stand, then shows the path that brought you there. You can correct the source reflections, download or print the map, and optionally choose a date to revisit it.
Private specimen · your wording will be different
Where I now stand
The clearest position I can honestly take today.
What remains uncertain
The risk or question that still deserves respect.
The next reversible step
One action that creates evidence without pretending certainty.
The path that brought me here
My reasons, values, witnesses, costs, and courage—preserved from all seven evenings.
Every section remains traceable to its source reflection. Sage does not invent a verdict or silently rewrite what you said.
The arc
Seven questions, one decision
- 01
Name the thing
What decision are you actually trying to make—stated in one sentence, without defending either answer?
- 02
Mark what you know
Which parts of this decision do you know, which are guesses, and which could still be learned?
- 03
Choose your witnesses
Whose judgment deserves weight here—and whose approval are you merely afraid to lose?
- 04
Ask what “better” means
What would make this not merely the easier choice, but a better way for you to live?
- 05
Follow the reason
Which reason still seems sound after you stop arguing for the answer you currently prefer?
- 06
Locate courage
What would courage mean in this decision if it were neither avoidance nor performance?
- 07
Write what you can stand behind
What can you now choose with integrity—and what uncertainty must you agree to carry?
Source honesty
Socrates left no writings. This journey draws from Plato’s literary portraits of him, using editorial adaptations of Benjamin Jowett’s public-domain translations. Sage’s mentor responses are AI interpretations, not the historical Socrates.