Socratic

Introduction
The Socratic method is one of the most famous, least used, and least understood teaching and
conversation practices. The Socratic method of questioning is named after the Greek
philosopher Socrates (469 BC399 BC), who lived in Athens Greece. His father
was Sophroniscus, a stone cutter, and his mother was Phaenarete, a midwife. His mothers
profession of midwife is how Socrates' would later characterize his own profession. Socrates
believed that the highest benefit of his art was to help people do their own thinking in a way
that lead to the birth of their own new ideas. In Socratic dialogues, the primary focus is on
the original thinking of the respondent as they try to answer Socrates' questions. A new idea,
once it was delivered through Socrates philosophical midwife practice of limiting himself to
asking questions, was then examined to determine if the idea is a "false phantom or an
instinct with life and truth" (Theaetetus). This examination involved Socrates asking more
questions, which help the respondents think critically about their previous answers.
The subjects of Socrates' conversations often revolved around defining ideas such as, justice,
virtue, beauty, courage, temperance, and friendship. The search for a definition focused on
the true nature of the subject under question and not just on how the word is used correctly in
a sentence. Socrates style of conversation involved his own denial of knowledge (Socratic
irony). In these conversations, Socrates became the student and made those he questioned the
teacher. Socrates rejected any attempts to pass off another person's ideas or the beliefs of the
majority as truth. Socrates was not interested in the talk of others. He only wanted to focus
on the respondents own thinking. Through the respondent's process of answering Socrates'
questions, they experienced their own original thinking in the context of examining their own
ideas and themselves. The brilliance of the Socratic method is in the character developing
power it has through the exercise of a person's love of asking and answering questions in the
pursuit of knowledge.
The Socratic method, with its focus on a person's original and critical thinking in the context
of life's important questions, is foundational to human moral development. Vlastos and
Graham offer an important insight into the value of the Socratic method.

Concept of reality
Socrates argues that the senses do not grasp reality in any way. He believed that a
philosopher's "concern is not with the body but ... [with] the soul. To the ancient Greeks the

word 'philosopher' had a different meaning from today's and it denoted a lover of wisdom or
knowledge. Socrates was a philosopher who spent his entire life searching for the truths -the simple, uncomplicated, and indestructible truths that make up knowledge. Socrates
believed that there was a division between the body and the soul, ) and that the body played
no part in the attainment of knowledge.
The body is only concerned with pleasures such as food, drink, sex, material acquisitions,
and wealth. To Socrates, the body with all its needs was an obstacle in the "search for
knowledge," and never gives us an accurate account of anything. That no two people will
ever hear or see the same thing in an identical way and consequently, will never perceive
sensory information in the same way either. Socrates' contention was that human beings
cannot rely on their senses in any way as a source for knowledge because information from
them varies. Knowledge to Socrates was never changing, but concrete and eternal. He
thought that we will never learn the reality and truth of anything if we continue to rely on our
senses. Socrates would give an example to prove his point: if you put a straight stick halfway
in the water, it will look bent. Take it out, it looks straight again. Is the stick really straight?
Our senses try to trick us.
To Socrates, the body is of the imperfect, sensible world, while the soul is of the perfect, real
world. The sensible world is what we see all around us, but it is only an illusion. The real
world is invisible to us, but it is where the Forms exist. The Forms are entities that provide us
with standards. They cannot be seen or felt, but they make up reality. These forms are
perfect, unchangeable, and eternal and are the standards by which we recognize things in this
fluctuating, illusionary world. The Forms make up the real world. But for most of us, what
we see around us is all there is -- what we can see in our material existence. For Socrates and
Plato, this is not the real world, this is the sensible world. It could not be real because it is
always changing, always in flux. The world is constantly deteriorating and things get worse
with time; things just do not last in this life. Take a chair, for example, no matter how well it
has been made, it will eventually fall apart and one day it will not be here at all. Even objects
made of precious metals will change and tarnish, but the real world, the world of Plato's
Forms, cannot be changeable.
Life is a fusing of a body with a soul, but to philosophers like Plato and Socrates, this
combination is not the best one for acquiring Knowledge. The body with all of its necessities
and desires "keeps us busy in a thousand ways because of its need for nurture. If we get sick,
this also stops us from concentrating on what should be our lifelong, singular goal -knowledge. The body with its sensory-based system is what causes "war, civil discord, and
battles, and our preoccupation with these pursuits keep us from wisdom. If we want
knowledge, Socrates would say that we must not pay attention to the sensible world ( because

it is not all that different from a dream, and we all know how fast they can change. If things
are constantly changing, how can we learn about them anyway?
Once something is learned about a particular thing, there is a good chance the object has
already changed. We always end up playing catch up. For Socrates, the body is, in theory, an
evil tomb that imprisons our "Goodness, and will try to fool it at every opportunity it can.
Most of us would say that on a clear summer day the sky is blue, but what about the people
who have color blindness? Is the sky really blue to them? Or what about someone with
jaundice? For them, sense of sight seems to be tinted yellow. Will the sky be blue to them?

Concept of knowledge
Socrates makes the claim there are two very different sorts of knowledge. One is ordinary
knowledge. This is of very specific (and ordinary) information. p. He claims that to have
such knowledge does not give the possessor of said knowledge any expertise or wisdom
worth mentioning.
The higher knowledge could possibly be described as definitional knowledge. Socrates is
extremely interested in defining words and concepts. He accepts the pursuit of definitional
knowledge as a priority to philosophical discussion.
Socrates devotes much thought to the concept of belief, through the use of logic. He spars
with students early in his career and later with his accusers, at his trial, on the nature of his
belief regarding the gods. To define belief, according to Socrates, was to use naturalistic
explanations for phenomena traditionally explained in terms of Divine Agency. His belief in
the wisdom and goodness of gods is derived from human logic and his natural skepticism.
Any person who knows what goodness, or truth is, will live that way. The only lie or evil
comes about when one is ignorant of good. Man will never knowingly lie even if he thinks
he is. It is his ignorance of goodness and truth that prevents him from being a wise and
honest man.

Concept of value
Socrates believed that there were different kinds of knowledge, important and trivial.
He acknowledges that most of us know many "trivial" things. He states that the
craftsman possesses important knowledge, the practice of his craft, but this is
important only to himself, the craftsman. But this is not the important knowledge that
Socrates is referring to. The most important of all knowledge is "how best to live." He

posits that this is not easily answered, and most people live in shameful ignorance
regarding matters of ethics and morals.
Through his method of powerfully questioning his students, he seeks to guide them to
discover the subject matter rather than simply telling them what they need to know.
The goals of education are to know what you can; and, even more importantly, to
know what you do not know.

Concept of individual and society

To the class of Athenians that Socrates was born into, society existed to provide the best life
for the individual. The Athenians of Socrates' day assumed just as their ancestors had
assumed that the best life one could have, required the acquisition of what was called virtue,
or excellence. A truly good person succeeded in doing great things for the city, strictly
obeyed its law, honored parents and ancestors, scrupulously paid homage to the gods by
strictly obeying the conventions governing prayer and sacrifice.
Athens' political system was a radical, participating democracy in which every Athenian
male citizen could-and was expected to-vote, hold office, and serve on the very powerful
Athenian juries.
Societies are invariably formed for a particular purpose. Individuals are not self-sufficient, no
one working alone can acquire all the genuine necessities of life. Separations of functions
and specialization of labor are key. Society is composed of distinct classes (clothiers,
farmers, builders, etc.). In addition, there are those that manage society and settle disputes. In
Plato's Republic, he uses the fictional character Socrates as spokesman for explaining the
fundamental principles for the conduct of human life.
Education took place in magnificent buildings such as the Parthenon and Hephaisteion,
which adorn the Acropolis and the Agora, the large open area at the front of the Acropolis
that consisted of the Athenian market place and public square. However, education took
place wherever and whenever, and the concepts of schooling, colleges, and institutions had
not yet arrived.

Methodology of instructions

Socratic method is not possible due to the diversity with which 'the method' has been used in
history. There are many styles of question oriented dialogue that claim the name Socratic
method. However, just asking a lot of questions does not automatically constitute a use of the
Socratic method. Even in the dialogues of Plato, which are the most significant and detailed
historical references to Socrates, there is not just one Socratic method. The exact style and
methodology of the Platonic Socrates changes significantly throughout the dialogues. If there
is a 'classic' Socratic method, this designation must refer to the style of the Socratic method
found primarily in the early dialogues (also called the Socratic Dialogues) and some other
dialogues of Plato. In these dialogues, Socrates claims to have no knowledge of even the
most fundamental principles, such as justice, holiness, friendship or virtue. In the Socratic
dialogues, Socrates only wants short answers that address very specific points and refuses to
move on to more advanced or complicated topics until an adequate understanding of basic
principles is achieved. This means that the conversation is often stuck in the attempt to
answer what appears to be an unanswerable basic question. This image of Socrates'
conversations, with their typical failure to find an answer, is the most widely recognized
portrait of Socrates and his method. In the dialogues of Plato, the portrayal of Socrates and
his method were diverse and ranged from the portrait of Socrates in the early dialogues to a
richer diversity of conversational styles and ideas in latter dialogues. This diversity in the
dialogues was so great that Plato even decided to drop both Socrates and his method in some
of his writing. In a later Platonic dialogue The Laws, there is still conversation but Socrates
is replaced with the stranger and his method is gone as well. Socrates and his method are
most vividly seen in the early and middle dialogues.

Classic Socratic Method

The Classic Socratic method uses creative questioning to dismantle and discard preexisting
ideas and thereby allows the respondent to rethink the primary question under discussion
(such as 'What is virtue?'). This deconstructive style of the Socratic method is Socratic
precisely to the extent that the weight of the actual deconstruction of a definition rests in the
respondents own answers to more questions, which refute the respondent's previously stated
answer to the primary question. The result of the Classic Socratic method is, by definition, a
failure to find a satisfactory answer to the primary question in a conversation. This failure
produces a realization of ignorance in the respondent (Socratic Effect) which can, it is hoped,
inspire the respondent to dig deep and think about the question with a new freedom that is
obtained from discarding a previously held belief. If a satisfactory answer is found, this
represents a transition to the Modern Socratic method.

Modern Socratic Method

The Modern Socratic method is a process of questioning used to successfully lead a person to
knowledge through small steps. This knowledge can be specific data, training in approaches
to problem solving, or leading one to embrace a specific belief. The type of knowledge is not
as important as the fact that, with the Modern Socratic method, the knowledge gained is
specifically anticipated by the Socratic questioner. This stands in contrast to the Classic
Socratic method in which the actual outcomes are unknown by all parties.
The modern style is not deconstructive, but constructive. This is the most widely used style
today because it is the easiest to employ. It is much easier to lead a person, by baby steps, to
specific knowledge through a series of questions than it is to force a person to abandon a
cherished idea and rethink an important or controversial issue just by asking creative
questions. The Modern Socratic method is not called modern because it was invented
recently, but because it is the most popular usage in modern times. The Modern Socratic
method has historical precedent in the dialogues of Plato. The most famous example is the
geometry experiment with the slave boy in a dialogue called Meno. The Modern Socratic
method is discussed below and is referred to as 'The Constructive Agenda' style of the
Socratic method.

The curriculum
1) develops the whole child as much as is possible within the short time at school.

(2) is science-based and literature-based as much of our society in the present century rests
on a base of science and technology.
Literature provides a solid background for our studies in humanities.

(3) encourages all students to be active explorers and make a worthwhile contribution as
effective participants our future citizens in
our democratic society.

(4) gives all children the opportunity to study in enough depth to satisfy curiosity and to
develop the individual potential.

(5) sequences learning activities, within specified disciplines of knowledge, enabling the
students to progress at their own rate.

Concept of leadership
The Socratic method of leadership is based on the questioning techniques used by Socrates
2500 years ago to instruct by questioning, making his students examine their knowledge base
and beliefs. The Socratic method is widely used in law and medical schools where students
are trained to think on their feet, make judgment calls and have the confidence and
understanding of the issues to make the right calls. Knowledge can be taught -- an instructor
lectures, the students take notes and memorize facts. The Socratic leader, however, casts
himself as a fellow learner, and he asks questions and engages in discussion rather than
issuing orders and directions.

Teacher characteristics
Plan and build the main course of thought through the material.
Build in potential fallacies (errors) for discovery and discussion. Know common fallacies.
It may help to start or check with the conclusion and work backwards.
The teacher and student agree on the topic of instruction.
The student agrees to attempt to answer questions from the teacher.
The teacher and student are willing to accept any correctly-reasoned answer.

That is, the reasoning process must be considered more important than pre-conceived facts or
beliefs.
The teacher's questions should expose errors in the students' reasoning or beliefs, then formulate
questions that the students cannot answer except by a correct reasoning process.
The teacher has prior knowledge about the classical fallacies (errors) in reasoning.
Where the teacher makes an error of logic or fact, it is acceptable for a student to draw attention
to the error.
An informal discussion or similar vehicle of an informal discussion or similar vehicle of
communication may not strictly be a (Socratic) dialogue. Therefore it is only suitable as a
medium for the Socratic method where the principles are known by teachers and likely to be
known by students. Additionally, the teacher is knowledgeable and proficient enough to
spontaneously ask questions in order to draw conclusions and principles etc. from the students.

Evaluation in education
When teachers use Socratic questioning in teaching, their purpose may be to probe student
thinking, to determine the extent of student knowledge on a given topic, issue or subject, to
model Socratic questioning for students or to help students analyze a concept or line of
reasoning. It is suggested that students should learn the discipline of Socratic questioning so
that they begin to use it in reasoning through complex issues, in understanding and assessing
the thinking of others and in following-out the implications of what they and others think. In
fact, Socrates himself thought that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching.
In teaching, teachers can use Socratic questioning for at least two purposes:

To deeply probe student thinking, to help students begin to distinguish what they
know or understand from what they do not know or understand (and to help them
develop intellectual humility in the process).

To foster students' abilities to ask Socratic questions, to help students acquire the
powerful tools of Socratic dialogue, so that they can use these tools in everyday life (in
questioning themselves and others). To this end, teachers can model the questioning

strategies they want students to emulate and employ. Moreover, teachers need to directly
teach students how to construct and ask deep questions. Beyond that, students need
practice to improve their questioning abilities.
Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning. It illuminates the
difference between systematic and fragmented thinking. It teaches us to dig beneath the
surface of our ideas. It teaches us the value of developing questioning minds in cultivating
deep learning. Integrating Socratic questions in the following manner in the classroom helps
develop active, independent learners: