Analysis of The Socratic Method

I have been analysing about the way Socrates asks questions – known as Socratic Method.

The key features of the Socratic method are listed below:

• Establishment of the clear pieces of information;

• To find the contradiction and blind-spot;

• To ask about one key idea at a time;

• Not to convince – no positions of power;

• Questioning based on what has been conveyed previously;

• To always summarise, repeat, and confirm it’s agreed by both parties;

• To make sure the idea is received;

• To give room for the opponent(s) to respond, so the process is fair to both parties;

• And it should be able to be used on all topics and ideas. The Socratic is a generalist method (as opposite to Aristotle, who arguably is a specialist).

Essentially, The Socratic Method is a process of clarification. It aims to make both parties have a chance to understand more about each other. It can apply to factual discussions or opinion based discussions. The consistency and fairness is also the beauty of it.

However, the Socratic Method has its own downsides. I have put together some disadvantages or problems of Socratic Method:

• It does not necessarily have to give birth to new ideas, as it does not have to involve conceptualisation;

• It can become a contest/debate very quickly even though Socratic method is not meant to initiate an argument (It’s not supposed to be a fight, but it usually does turn into a fight);

• And Socratic Method is aimed to better understand why people believes in what they believe. However, people tend to be strategising and fall into bias, instead of refining their points. They would go into defending something that they don’t necessarily believe.

Just by looking at the encountering between Socrates and other people throughout the books, potentially we can say in most conversations the Socratic method does not operate the way it’s intended to. Most conversations end with the opponents being angry/frustrated.

“Another time, Socrates; right now I have an urgent engagement somewhere, and it’s time for me to go,” Euthyphro said to Socrates after having a long conversation about ethics.¹

Of course, for once, it even ends with Socrates being sent to capital punishment.

Regarding the pros and cons, while we cannot deny the downsides of the Socratic Method, we can definitely learn from it and potentially incorporate it in teaching and learning.

¹ Plato, (2003), The Last Days of Socrates, (London: Penguin), 30.