In the current sociocultural context, both young people and older people are being infected by the   single way of thinking   that   prevails   in the different institutional, educational and social spheres, from those who want to impose it.

However, a few years ago, several young professionals created the Madrid-based association  It’s Time to Think and  began  promoting the development of  Thinkglaos.  These events encourage   free thinking   and undoubtedly aim to challenge groupthink.

The reader might ask: What is It’s Time to Think?   Answer: It’s a cultural movement that seeks to transform society by creating spaces for free thought. It aims to help people escape the noise, break free from social media algorithms, listen to those who are different, and seek the truth (…). These ideas are developed through what this movement calls   “thinkglaos ,” the events they organize to achieve their goals. Young people who attend  thinkglaos  do so to: look around them, seek the reasons behind things, feel empowered, find role models, and connect with other inquisitive people like themselves (…). At each  thinkglao , an expert in a particular field of knowledge or a renowned professional briefly presents a topic, which is then discussed with the attendees to encourage critical thinking.  

I’ve chosen to call this opinion piece  “A Modern Socratic Feat” because I think it perfectly suits the  It’s Times to Think initiative . Its promoters are   young professionals whom I admire for the effort and enthusiasm with which they organize and make possible the development of  thinkglasses  in Madrid and in more than 30 cities across Spain, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Uruguay.

At   thinkglaos,   there is a speaker, a thinker, who helps the attendees think, emphasizing   the need for critical thinking to achieve a mature, balanced, and happy personality . The way  thinkglaos speakers  address the attendees, and in the subsequent discussions, is reminiscent of the great thinkers of classical Greece, among them Socrates, nicknamed “the wasp” because he never stopped “provoking people.”

Socrates    always had a special interest in teaching people how to think properly, or at least how to question things. He believed that to attain knowledge, one must know how to ask questions; that is,   questioning is the first step toward discernment . Furthermore, this great thinker was convinced that knowledge is accessible to the vast majority of people and that anyone can approach the truth if they seek it.

What is surprising about this modern movement is that it incorporates many of the ideas of ancient Greek thinkers, such as   Plato   and   Aristotle . The former said,  “Knowledge must be shared; it is crucial for the advancement of society,”  and the latter pointed out,  “The ignorant person asserts, the wise person doubts and reflects.” Plato also     believed that  “the wise person is aware that the key lies in asking questions.”

The analogy between contemporary thinkers in  thinkglaos  and ancient Greek thinkers lies in the marked parallel between current problems and those of the Greco-Roman world. Therefore, the technique used in  thinkglaos  to bring forth truth could be framed within the   Socratic   method of the great Greek thinkers.

Thinking is different from reasoning; thinking requires reasoning and taking feelings into account. We think when we develop   critical thinking , which is capable of separating the wheat from the chaff, something achieved through   doubt . Therefore, we must learn to doubt, know when to doubt, and which doubts we can live with and be happy with. Furthermore, as   Victoria Camps  points out  in her book  *In Praise of Doubt* , doubt generates knowledge because doubting requires reflection, pausing, and escaping immediacy.   Doubting requires recognizing our imperfections , a stance contrary to relativism, in which everyone believes their truth is the only truth. Thinking well requires doubting well, without falling into sterile skepticism. The practice of doubt would help create a mentally healthier society.

Young people in this century should strive to cultivate a “solid self” in the face of the “liquid world” described by sociologist   Zygmunt Bauman . Perhaps recalling the words of   Ortega y Gasset , a great 20th-century thinker,  “I am myself and my circumstances,”  can help us understand why, in the 21st century, virtual circumstances are being given more importance than real ones. Without a developed critical mindset, the virtual can be a “destructive enemy” to the formation of the self. Given this reality, it’s reasonable to think that humanity is forgetting how to enrich itself with the diverse perspectives of others, in order to achieve a more authentic understanding of reality. It can also be said that true happiness is learned and that, in part,   the beauty hidden within happiness lies in critical thinking .

I encourage our young people, whom I cherish, to cultivate the habit of thinking critically and discovering what makes them better and what improves their family and social environment. This will help them develop a critical stance toward different ideologies, the rewriting of history, and the socio-political manipulations that constantly seek to re-educate us and limit our freedoms.

Today,   the best weapon against the manipulation of language , which distorts reality,   is to keep the switch of critical thinking switched on . This weapon of mass destruction, free critical thought, has always been a major threat to those in power.

Furthermore, it’s worth mentioning that educational institutions like the University of Texas at Austin and   Professor   Jordan Peterson   ‘s Peterson Academy in Toronto already exist, where one of their objectives is   to teach  students  how to think—  “How to think, not what to think” —so they aren’t swayed by a single, dominant ideology. In both cases, the aim is to escape the influence of woke culture   and  post-truth,  as both oppose the pursuit of truth, and to foster critical thinking.