Three Minute Philosophy: Plato. Meno by Plato. Sophist by Plato. The Republic by Plato. Apology by Plato. Socratic questioning. Socratic questioning (or Socratic maieutics)[1] is disciplined questioning that can be used to pursue thought in many directions and for many purposes, including: to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts, to distinguish what we know from what we don't know, to follow out logical implications of thought or to control the discussion.
The key to distinguishing Socratic questioning from questioning per se is that Socratic questioning is systematic, disciplined, deep and usually focuses on fundamental concepts, principles, theories, issues or problems. Socratic questioning is referred to in teaching, and has gained currency as a concept in education particularly in the past two decades.
Pedagogy[edit] The Memorable Thoughts of Socrates by Xenophon. Euthyphro by Plato.