The Socratic Method
The method which Socrates employed in his philosophical analyses has five readily distinguishable characteristics:
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1. The method is skeptical. It begins with Socrates' real or professed ignorance of the truth of the matter under discussion. This is the Socratic irony which seemed to some of his listeners an insincere pretense, but which was undoubtedly an expression of Socrates' genuine intellectual humility. This skepticism Socrates shared with the Sophists and, in his adoption of it, he may very well have been influenced by them. But whereas the Sophistic skepticism was definitive and final, the Socratic is tentative and provisional; Socrates' doubt and assumed ignorance is an indispensable first step in the pursuit of knowledge.
2. It is conversational. It employs the dialogue not only as a didactic device, but as a technique for the actual discovery of opinions amongst men, there are truths upon which all men can agree, Socrates proceeds to unfold such truths by discussion or by question and answer. Beginning with a popular or hastily formed conception proposed by one of the members of the company or taken from the poets or some other traditional source, Socrates subjects this notion to severe criticism, as a result of which a more adequate conception emerges. His method, in this aspect, is often described as the maieutic method. It is the art of intellectual midwifery, which brings other men's ideas to birth. It is also known as the dialectical method or the method of elenchus.
3. It is conceptual or definitional in that it sets as the goal of knowledge the acquisition of concepts, such as the ethical concepts of justice, piety, wisdom, courage and the like. Socrates tacitly assumes that truth is embodied in correct definition. Precise definition of terms is held to be the first step in the problem solving process.
4. The Socratic method is empirical or inductive in that the proposed definitions are criticized by reference to particular instances. Socrates always tested definitions by recourse to common experience and to general usages.
5. The method is deductive in that a given definition is tested by drawing out its implications, by deducing its consequences. The definitional method of Socrates is a real contribution to the logic of philosophical inquiry. It inspired the dialectical method of Plato and exerted a not inconsiderable influence on the logic Aristotle.
The socratic method [Archive] - ForumsHQ
Re: The socratic method [Archive] - ForumsHQ
Socrates stole that from me..I am Platractes..that thief..
Re: The socratic method [Archive] - ForumsHQ
4. The Socratic method is empirical or inductive in that the proposed definitions are criticized by reference to particular instances. Socrates always tested definitions by recourse to common experience and to general usages.
This really doesn't work well as every experience is different. Even in science, when testing a hypothesis, you do everything you can to make the conditions similar...each test, there is alwasy something different that cannot be controlled...that is the way of life..the way of the universe.
The only thing in life that is constant, is change.
An example of this is shown by the chaotician in Jurassic Park, playued by Jeff Goldblum (can't remember the characters name) where he demonstrated that water will never follow the same path when he put a few dropplets on that womands knuckles...
;)
This really doesn't work well as every experience is different. Even in science, when testing a hypothesis, you do everything you can to make the conditions similar...each test, there is alwasy something different that cannot be controlled...that is the way of life..the way of the universe.
The only thing in life that is constant, is change.
An example of this is shown by the chaotician in Jurassic Park, playued by Jeff Goldblum (can't remember the characters name) where he demonstrated that water will never follow the same path when he put a few dropplets on that womands knuckles...
;)
-
Pwyll
Re: The socratic method [Archive] - ForumsHQ
Originally posted by MrBlack
This really doesn't work well as every experience is different. Even in science, when testing a hypothesis, you do everything you can to make the conditions similar...each test, there is alwasy something different that cannot be controlled...that is the way of life..the way of the universe.
The only thing in life that is constant, is change.
An example of this is shown by the chaotician in Jurassic Park, playued by Jeff Goldblum (can't remember the characters name) where he demonstrated that water will never follow the same path when he put a few dropplets on that womands knuckles...
;)
:thumbu:
furthermore, each us of perceives events in our own, unique way and then we interpret them in our own, unique way.
so, not is each event unique, each observer and experience is also unique.
no wonder people fight so much, its a miracle we can communicate at all!
so, screw method, just make the best guess you can ;)
This really doesn't work well as every experience is different. Even in science, when testing a hypothesis, you do everything you can to make the conditions similar...each test, there is alwasy something different that cannot be controlled...that is the way of life..the way of the universe.
The only thing in life that is constant, is change.
An example of this is shown by the chaotician in Jurassic Park, playued by Jeff Goldblum (can't remember the characters name) where he demonstrated that water will never follow the same path when he put a few dropplets on that womands knuckles...
;)
:thumbu:
furthermore, each us of perceives events in our own, unique way and then we interpret them in our own, unique way.
so, not is each event unique, each observer and experience is also unique.
no wonder people fight so much, its a miracle we can communicate at all!
so, screw method, just make the best guess you can ;)