The Socratic method was a way to teach students by means of questions and answers, if you can call them answers. Socrates’ point was to show his students and contemporaries that what they thought they knew, they didn’t truly know. He could take a simple sentence such as: “The dog is brown” and then turn it around and ask, “Well, what is a dog? What is brown? Is it a dog because it is brown or if something is brown does that make it a dog?” Citizens were frustrated with him because he “talked in circles.” In fact, he did this as were read in Plato’s Euthyphro, by means of questioning what Euthyphro believed to be pious versus impious, just versus unjust. Socrates said to Euthyphro: “Yes, my friend, that’s because I really desire your wisdom and apply my mind to it so that what you say won’t fall on barren ground (pg. 23 14d line 2-3). He pretended to be in want of Euthyphro’s wisdom, but really was trying to get Euthyphro to question what he held to be truth.
The Socratic Method of learning is essential to philosophy. Philosophy is questioning existential thoughts and ideas. Simple questions like, “Why are here? Where are we? What are we?” are questions philosophers have tried to answer, but we realize these cannot be answered. I wonder if Socrates had answers for these questions? He must have had some dialogues with himself or other townsmen about these existential ideas, he had an answer for everything and was especially fond of “absolute truths.”
Personally, I have always applauded Socrates for persistently questioning the status quo and refusing to accept everything at face value. Then again, I can see why other men got fed up with him. No one likes a know-it-all.
“True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.” – Socrates
hannamgilley 