The Flaws of the Socratic Method
The Flaws of the Socratic Method
In Plato’s Republic, as well as in most of his other works, the philosopher writes dialogues between the character of his mentor, Socrates, and various figures meant to illustrate contradictory positions. He carefully scripts the engagements in a form of discussion now called the Socratic Method, where Socrates critiques the positions of the other characters in order to find flaws in inaccurate arguments. Although this method is prevalent even today, I will make the case that even when Plato himself is using it, the Socratic Method, while not without benefits, is an extremely flawed way of conducting educational discourse.
The Socratic Method is a dialectic method of argument, meaning that the participants are ideally emotionally detached from the sides which they’re arguing, and are approaching things solely with the intent of capturing the truth of the matter. In practice, the Method consists of someone taking a position and his opponent asking leading questions in order to ferret out the flaws in his opponents’ position. These questions often take the form of application of the relevant concept in an effort to find a plausible scenario or comparison in which the proposal is self-contradicting. When such a scenario is discovered, the argument can be discarded as inaccurate and a new, different position is put forth, which is similarly subject to deconstruction.
Plato applies the Socratic Method liberally and to a wide variety of subject matter. In Republic, he is concerned most with the nature of virtue and justice, the exploration of which is couched in the formulation of a flawless society. In Gorgias, his Socrates engages several political and religious figures on the merits of rhetoric versus his own method of discourse. He uses his style of argument to explore very fundamental and complex topics, and it allows him to make strides in clarifying and refuting many deeply seated assumptions contained in a variety of
In Plato’s Republic, as well as in most of his other works, the philosopher writes dialogues between the character of his mentor, Socrates, and various figures meant to illustrate contradictory positions. He carefully scripts the engagements in a form of discussion now called the Socratic Method, where Socrates critiques the positions of the other characters in order to find flaws in inaccurate arguments. Although this method is prevalent even today, I will make the case that even when Plato himself is using it, the Socratic Method, while not without benefits, is an extremely flawed way of conducting educational discourse.
The Socratic Method is a dialectic method of argument, meaning that the participants are ideally emotionally detached from the sides which they’re arguing, and are approaching things solely with the intent of capturing the truth of the matter. In practice, the Method consists of someone taking a position and his opponent asking leading questions in order to ferret out the flaws in his opponents’ position. These questions often take the form of application of the relevant concept in an effort to find a plausible scenario or comparison in which the proposal is self-contradicting. When such a scenario is discovered, the argument can be discarded as inaccurate and a new, different position is put forth, which is similarly subject to deconstruction.
Plato applies the Socratic Method liberally and to a wide variety of subject matter. In Republic, he is concerned most with the nature of virtue and justice, the exploration of which is couched in the formulation of a flawless society. In Gorgias, his Socrates engages several political and religious figures on the merits of rhetoric versus his own method of discourse. He uses his style of argument to explore very fundamental and complex topics, and it allows him to make strides in clarifying and refuting many deeply seated assumptions contained in a variety of
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