Socratic dialogue
Philosophical question-and-answer
Socratic dialogue is a method of inquiry through conversation, named for the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates.
Rather than lecturing, the questioner draws out ideas through probing questions, exposing contradictions in the other person's reasoning: The professor used Socratic dialogue to help students discover the flaw in their argument.
The technique remains central to legal and philosophical education.
- dialecticLogical argument through opposition
- interlocutorOne who converses
- leading questionsInquiries suggesting expected answers
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- playing dumbPretending not to understand
gadfly · devil's advocate · pedagogy · epistemology · critical thinking · intellectual humility · argue · Plato · logic · ethics · probing · education · anamnesis · Socrates · know thyself · Delphic oracle · examined life · debate
- dialogotalk, chat, discussion, debate, exchange
- ancient GreeceAthens, Sparta, Zeus, Parthenon, Acropolis
- philosophy topicsethics, dialectic, logic, moral philosophy, political philosophy
- ancient philosophyPlato, Aristotle, Socrates, Platonism, Epicureanism
- Greek/Classical termsepic, rhetoric, tragic irony, hexameter, strophe
- speech formsoration, rhetoric, debate, discourse, sermon
Socratic dialoguelecturing
Giving an instructive talk
rote learning · spoon-feeding · catechism · indoctrination · recitation
Socratic dialoguedogmatism
Unyielding adherence to doctrine
received wisdom · dictum · proclamation · fiat · sophistry