What exactly is the "Socratic Method"?

Question

I have to make up questions for every chpater of the book "Salt: A World History" using this method. It is an AP Summer Assignment. And i have NO idea what it is. Please help.

I have to make up questions for every chapter of the book "Salt: A World History" using this method. It is an AP Summer Assignment. And i have NO idea what it is. Please help. And please keep in mind, I'm a sophmore in high school, so..please, if possible...keep it simple

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method

jodzki's post is lifted from the above link. You should read all of this article, however.

I wanted to refresh myself on the Socratic Method before writing anything.

You may be faced with a situation where your teacher does not really understand the Socratic Method. It is not used to convey facts or other information. It is used (1) to teach reasoning and (2) to arrive at a conclusion on a matter that is debatable.

The fact that salt is NaCl is not debatable, but whether a war should be fought to obtain salt (many have been) is debatable.

You should search the text for moral and ethical questions. Keep in mind that history is written by the victors. Look at issues from the loser's point of view, too. Americans look at bringing democracy to Iraq as being a postive thing, but Sunnis see it as a negative because, under Saddam, they received much wealth and preferential treatment. American stories about Iraq do not give much emphasis to the Sunni point of view.

Another thing, is that a Socratic dialogue is not fixed. You cannot prepare a list of questions beforehand. The questioner adapts his questions, and even the subject of his questions to customize them for a particular student. One student may have already mastered the moral reasoning on issue A, so the questioner spends most of their time on issue B. Another student may be weak in both issues A and B, and the questioner spends more time with that student exploring both issues.

A good example of Socratic dialog is in the movie and television show "Paper Chase." This is about law students. It would be beneficial to watch one of those.

Also, is there a law school you could visit? Call and talk to whomever answers the phone and tell them about your assignment and that you would like to observe the Socratic method and talk to the professor as well. Many professors are glad to help a smart, inquisitive student! If possible, meet with the professor before class and ask him what to watch for. Take notes about his method of teaching, including questions about his technique. After class, meet with him again to discuss what you have seen.

It would be entirely appropriate to offer to buy him/her lunch for his/her help. Also, as soon as you get home, write a nice thank you note to the professor and the Dean of the law school.

Overcoming logical fallacies are an important goal of the Socratic Method. A commonly used fallacy is "Appeal to Authority." It is appropriate to take the word of an expert on certain issues, such as, the American Heart Association recommends that people consume no more than 2,000 mg of salt per day. However, if a celebrity promotes a certain cigarette as having health benefits, that is illegitimate because the celebrity does not have any expertise (authority) in health issues related to smoking. Old cigarette advertisments featured John Wayne promoting the health benefits of smoking, but he still died from lung cancer.

Logical fallacies: http://www.fallacyfiles.org/index.html

Good luck!

Answer 2

Socratic method (or method of elenchos or Socratic debate) is a dialectic method of inquiry, largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts and first described by Plato in the Socratic Dialogues. For this, Socrates is customarily regarded as the father and fountainhead for ethics or moral philosophy.

It is a form of philosophical enquiry. It typically involves two speakers at any one time, with one leading the discussion and the other agreeing to certain assumptions put forward for his acceptance or rejection. The method is credited to Socrates, who began to engage in such discussion with his fellow Athenians after a visit to the Oracle of Delphi.

"A Socratic Dialogue can happen at any time between [two people] when they seek to answer a question [about something] answerable by their own effort of reflection and thinking [starting] from the concrete [asking] all sorts of questions [until] the details of the example are fleshed out [as] a kind of platform for reaching more general judgments".

The practice involves asking a series of questions surrounding a central issue, and answering questions of the others involved. Generally this involves the defense of one point of view against another and is oppositional. The best way to 'win' is to make the opponent contradict themselves in some way that proves the inquirer's own point.

Plato famously formalised the Socratic debate in prose — positing Socrates as one of the principal interlocutors — in some of his early dialogues, such as Euthyphro or Theaetetus, and the method is most commonly found within the Socratic dialogues, which generally portray Socrates engaging in the method and questioning his fellow citizens about moral and epistemological issues.

Answer 3

Wow, I say you give crao_craz Best Answer right now. All I can say is that I certainly hope your TEACHER knows what the Socratic Method is, because from where I sit, this sounds like one of those ideas your teacher got from attending a one-day training session.

Answer 4

The socratic method is to teach by asking questions, and let the student cull the answers from the questions asked.

Answer 5

It's where the prof stands you up and grills you about a case or a question. he expects you to know the answer and teach the rest of the class on it. if you don't know the answer then he'll just embarrass you so you won't ever forget it. have fun!!

Answer 6

Its answering a question with another question.

EX.
One person asks
"How does a bird fly?"

Another responds
"How can it not?"

Answer 7

is answering a question with more question until you find the "true", which is by the way, another question

Answer 8

I believe....though could be mistaken.... that it is answering a question with a question.

Answer 9

just google it.
google is the answer for everythingc