How Socrates Used It
Socrates claimed to know nothing. He would approach someone with a reputation for wisdom and ask a question: 'What is courage?' or 'What is justice?' The interlocutor would offer a definition. Socrates would find a counterexample or contradiction. The person would revise the definition. Socrates would find another problem. This continued until the interlocutor admitted they didn't know what they thought they knew — aporia (puzzlement, perplexity). Socrates considered this the beginning of genuine inquiry.
The Philosophical Purpose
The Socratic method is not primarily about reaching correct answers — it is about exposing false certainty and motivating genuine investigation. Socrates compared himself to a midwife: he did not deliver knowledge himself but helped others give birth to ideas they already carried. The method assumes the interlocutor already has the knowledge within them; questioning draws it out.
Law School and the Case Method
The Socratic method has been the dominant pedagogy of American law schools since Christopher Columbus Langdell introduced the case method at Harvard in 1870. A professor calls on a student, asks them to state the facts of a case, challenges their interpretation, demands they distinguish cases, and presses them toward general principles. The goal is not memorization but legal reasoning under pressure.
Research on Effectiveness
Studies on Socratic questioning in education generally find it improves critical thinking and conceptual understanding more than lecture-based instruction, but is less efficient for transmitting factual content. It is most effective when students are prepared with basic material, when class sizes permit genuine dialogue, and when the teacher has genuine skill in the technique rather than simply using it to intimidate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Socratic method?
The Socratic method is a form of philosophical dialogue using systematic questioning to expose the contradictions in a position, clarify concepts, and guide the interlocutor toward deeper understanding or honest admission of ignorance. Socrates used it in Athens by claiming ignorance and asking questions that revealed his interlocutors' own lack of understanding.
Is the Socratic method effective for teaching?
Research finds the Socratic method improves critical thinking and conceptual understanding more than lecture-based instruction, but is less efficient for transmitting factual information. It works best with prepared students, small classes permitting genuine dialogue, and a teacher skilled in the technique. Law school case method uses it most systematically.
Why did Socrates say he knew nothing?
Socrates' claim to ignorance (aporia) was both genuine and strategic. Genuinely: he believed genuine wisdom begins with recognizing what you don't know. Strategically: the claim put him in the questioner's position, allowing him to test others' knowledge without asserting his own. The Oracle at Delphi reportedly called him the wisest man in Athens because he alone knew he knew nothing.
