Socratic Teaching & Learning

The Educational Value of Plato's Early Socratic Dialogues

by Heather Reid

When contemplating the origins of philosophical paideia one is tempted to think of Socrates, perhaps because we feel... more When contemplating the origins of philosophical paideia one is tempted to think of Socrates, perhaps because we feel that Socrates has been a philosophical educator to us all. But it is Plato and his literary genius that we have to thank as his dialogues preserve not just Socratic philosophy, but also the Socratic educational experience. Educators would do well to better understand Plato's pedagogical objectives in the Socratic dialogues so that we may appreciate and utilize them in our own educational endeavors, and so that we may adapt the Socratic experience to new interactive educational technologies. Plato designed his Socratic dialogues to arm students for real world challenges and temptations. First, in both form and function the dialogues attempt to replicate the Socratic experience for their audience. They demand from their readers what Socrates demanded from his students: active learning, self-examination, and an appreciation for the complexity and importance of wisdom. Second, the dialogues challenge the conflation of professional and personal excellence, best exemplified by sophists such as Hippias, and exhort their reader to pursue personal aretê separately from and alongside practical and professional skills or technai. Third, they aim not to transmit some prepackaged formula for success, but to teach students to learn for themselves; that is to love and pursue wisdom. The Socratic dialogues, and philosophic dialogue itself, are educationally important in that they teach us to be philosophers in the literal sense.

Just Speaking, Just Listening: Performance and Contradiction in Socrates' *Apology*

by Maria Talero

Kierkegaard and Dialogue: The Communication of Capability

by Andrew Herrmann

Despite his claim that his work was rooted in Socratic dialogue, little attention has been given to the implications... more Despite his claim that his work was rooted in Socratic dialogue, little attention has been given to the implications of Kierkegaard’s ideas for communication. This article examines two aspects of Kierkegaard’s philosophy of communication. First, it considers Kierkegaardian critiques of chatter, everyday talk, and the press and considers how these activities are involved in a process of objectification he called leveling. Second, this essay investigates Kierkegaard’s distinction between the communication of knowledge (Videns Meddelelse) and the communication of capability (Kunnis Meddelelse). Finally, it situates Kierkegaard within the dialogic tradition and presents a variety of possibilities for exploring Kierkegaardian thought further within the communication discipline.

Immanent circularity/Transcendent regress – a sceptical dilemma for ideology criticism

by Christopher Allsobrook

draft only - Ancient epistemology, ideology criticism, Socratic dialectic, Marxist dialectic, Immanence, Transcendence, Scepticism, Plato, Sextus Empiricus

"Definición y conocimiento en Menón". Saga, Revista de estudiantes de Filosofía. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Nº 6. 2002

by Alejandro Farieta

The Instructional Conversation: Teaching and Learning in Social Activity. Research Report: 2.

by Ronald Gallimore

Tharp & Gallimore (1991).

The Use and Abuse of Socrates in Present Day Teaching.

by A. G. Rud

Socratic Method: Dialectic and Its Use in Teaching Culture in EFL Classrooms

by Servet Celik

From Grade School to Law School: Socrates’ Legacy in Education

by Avi Mintz

A Companion to Socrates. Eds. Sara Ahbel-Rappe and Rachana Kamtekar, (Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2006), pp. 476-492

A question-based teaching technique called the ‘Socratic Method’ is frequently mentioned in contemporary schooling.... more A question-based teaching technique called the ‘Socratic Method’ is frequently mentioned in contemporary schooling. This chapter argues that there are distinct pedagogical practices associated with the Socratic Method today, especially when one juxtaposes its use in legal education and elementary and secondary education. The chapter also compares the contemporary invocations of Socrates’ name in education to the ancient depictions of his educational practices.

The Simple Art of Justice (Raymond Chandler/ Plato spoof)

by Liz McKinnell

a bit of frivolity

Man, Paradox, Myth: Plato's Philosophical Pedagogy

by Adam Westra

Sophia, 10, 2007, pp. 75-85.

Plato’s main pedagogical task is to convey Socrates’ knowledge of virtue (arētē) to others, for he embodied the truth... more Plato’s main pedagogical task is to convey Socrates’ knowledge of virtue (arētē) to others, for he embodied the truth that “the good life, the beautiful life, and the just life are the same” (Crito 48b7). A difficulty immediately presents itself, however, for Socrates’ conception of virtue was paradoxical: he claimed that it was a form of knowledge but that it could not be taught. This paper argues that Plato overcomes this challenge, effectively “teaching” the un-teachable, by creating the “myth of Socrates.” The knowledge of virtue is not a craft (technē), but rather a harmony of word and deed (phronēsis). Through the dialogues, Plato develops the story or myth (muthos) of Socrates’ virtuous life. The myth of Socrates is a mimetic representation of a moral exemplar, in which the student recognizes himself and the knowledge of virtue always already contained in his soul (anamnēsis). This knowledge is transformed into deeds through mimetic participation. The paper closes by making gestures towards the pedagogical strategy of the Republic, as well as its condemnation of mimetic poetry, in light of the analysis of the myth of Socrates. As much of the interpretation of Plato drawn upon in the analysis is Hans-Georg Gadamer’s, the paper can also be read as a condensation of many of his hermeneutical insights, drawn together through the myth motif.