Asking the Socratic Questions. A line of reasoning named for Socrates helps us help believers in the strange re-examine their beliefs. By Brian Dunning, Skeptoid Podcast Episode 384, October 15, 2013 Of all the possible perspectives, beliefs, theories, ideologies, and conclusions in this world, which of them are beyond question? None of them. And neither should be any person who holds one of those positions. People believe all sorts of strange things, and even though they might be passionate about them, most will still admit that questioning their belief is an appropriate undertaking. Returning to our fake example guys used in the past, Starling and Bombo, we can illustrate this concept. The answer is yes, and it involves getting Bombo to arrive at alternate explanations on his own.
There are six commonly described categories of Socratic questions, and they're all good. Let's begin with the first type: 1. Bombo: "I saw a UFO, and it was an alien spacecraft. " 2. 3. 4. He said: 5. Or: 6. Socratic Questions. Introduction Socratic Method is a dialectic method of inquiry, that uses cross-examination of someone's claims and premises in order to reveal out a contradiction or internal inconsistency among them. The basic form is a series of questions formulated as tests of logic and fact intended to help a person or group discover their beliefs about some topic, seeking to characterize the general characteristics shared by various particular instances. Aristotle attributed to Socrates the discovery of the method of definition and induction, which he regarded as the essence of the scientific method.
Simplifying Hegel's dialectic considers each notion has three stages of development called Thesis,_antithesis, and synthesis (this characterization actually belongs to Heinrich_Moritz_Chalybaus and is widely used by Marxists): Hegel himself used this classification only once, and he attributed the terminology to Immanuel Kant. Six Types of Socratic Questions Probing underling concepts Probing assumptions. In the Room: What do you Know and how do you Know it: Socratic Dialogue II. One of the difficulties with Carey and Mullan’s paper discussed in the first post is that you come away from it thinking Socratic question is multi-defined with a number of different purposes and therefore is not a useful or functional technique.
Nothing in my view could be further from the truth. I think a more useful way to look at this is that a lot of techniques have received the same label but this has nothing to do with their usefulness. I want to look at a couple of these in more depth. I think with any technique it is useful to look at both the technique as well as the purpose or purposes for which it is to be used. It can also be useful to think about the outcomes that occur in therapy as a result of using this technique. For myself I have found it far more useful to go outside of psychotherapy literature to find helpful stuff on Socratic questioning.A good example would be R Paul’s book: Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs to Survive in a Rapidly Changing World. Better Classroom Questioning - Socratic Questioning. Monday, March 25, 2013 PrintEmailTweet This!
Save to Favorites Socratic questioning is an extremely powerful questioning technique that teachers can use to explore complex issues and ideas with students, open up common misconceptions and analyse and evaluate topics at a far deeper level than 'normal' questioning. In essence, Socratic questioning is used to probe student understanding and thinking allowing far greater analysis and evaluation to take place. Socratic questioning focus purely on the importance of questioning to enhance teaching and learning and the name is derived from Socrates who believed that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching.
In Socratic questioning, the teacher uses a range of questions to create active, independent learners. So, what types of questions can be classified as Socratic questions? 1: Clarification of a key concept 'Could you explain that answer further? ' 2: Challenging assumptions and misconceptions 'Is there another point of view? ' Socratic Questioning. Techniques > Questioning > Socratic Questions Conceptual | Assumptions | Rationale | Viewpoint | Implications | Question | See also Socrates was one of the greatest educators who taught by asking questions and thus drawing out answers from his pupils ('ex duco', means to 'lead out', which is the root of 'education'). Sadly, he martyred himself by drinking hemlock rather than compromise his principles.
Bold, but not a good survival strategy. Here are the six types of questions that Socrates asked his pupils. The overall purpose of Socratic questioning, is to challenge accuracy and completeness of thinking in a way that acts to move people towards their ultimate goal. Conceptual clarification questions Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Why are you saying that? Probing assumptions Probing their assumptions makes them think about the presuppositions and unquestioned beliefs on which they are founding their argument.
What else could we assume?