The definition exercise: "what is it?"

Socrates did not pile up examples but sought the single definition: what is courage, justice, friendship, beyond particular cases? This exercise revives that move: testing a definition against counterexamples until you tighten it. You rarely reach the perfect formula, but you discover that a word you took to be obvious is harder and richer than you thought, and you judge more finely afterwards.

1. Pick a value-laden word you use often without defining it: courage, justice, respect, success, friendship.
2. Write your definition in one sentence: "X is…".
3. Find a case your definition wrongly includes (it is too broad), then a case it wrongly excludes (it is too narrow).
4. Revise the definition to absorb both cases, then run the test again on the new version.
5. Stop when you can no longer find an easy counterexample, or when you get stuck: note what the obstacle taught you about the word.

as occasions arise, alone or in pairs, 10 to 15 minutes

The aim is not to win a perfect definition, nor to trap the other person if you do it in pairs, but to see more clearly. The aporia, the moment you admit you could not really define the word, is a result, not a failure.