Socratic Method

The Socratic Method in Ancient Greek Philosophy

The Socratic method is illustrated in a number of Platonic dialogues as Socrates, the central character, uses questions and answers to examine his interlocutors. Relevant works include the Apology, Charmides, Crito, Euthydemus, Euthyphro, Gorgias, Hippias Major, Ion, Laches, Lysis, Meno, Protagoras, Republic (Book 1), and Theaetetus. In these dialogues, Socrates tests the knowledge claims of one or more interlocutors. Often beginning with a question, such as What is virtue? or What is justice? he solicits a brief statement of the interlocutor’s view. Socrates continues asking questions, drawing out more of the interlocutor’s beliefs. Finally, Socrates shows the interlocutor that his original statement is not consistent with his other beliefs, and the interlocutor concedes that he was mistaken. Within Plato scholarship, this process is referred to as elenchos, from the Greek for refutation or cross-examination, a term treated as synonymous with the Socratic method.

For example, early in Book 1 of the Republic, Socrates is discussing justice with Polemarchus, a son of a wealthy businessman. When he is asked to define justice, Polemarchus reports that people are just when they help their friends and harm their enemies. Socrates proceeds to ask whether people befriend those they perceive to be good people and dislike those they think are bad. Polemarchus acknowledges that this is how people choose their friends and enemies, leading Socrates to ask whether people are ever mistaken about the qualities of our friends and enemies. Soon, Polemarchus rejects his original definition of justice, once he realizes that it implies that it is sometimes just to harm good people who are mistakenly believed to be bad.

Scholars disagree over how to interpret Socrates’ intended use of elenchos within the dialogues. Scholars known as constructivists think that elenchos is meant to play a positive role in knowledge acquisition. For example, Gregory Vlastos (1983) contended that such inconsistency within the interlocutor’s beliefs led Socrates to conclude that the original statement was false and its negation true. Non-constructivists, on the other hand, believe that Socrates assigns elenchos a destructive role, using it to point out inconsistency within the interlocutor’s beliefs. According to Hugh Benson (1995, 2000), for example, Socrates only concludes from the elenchos that the conjunction of the interlocutor’s beliefs is false. A third position, represented by Thomas Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith (2002), holds that the dialogues depict a variety of pedagogical techniques, too varied to identify a single Socratic method of elenchos.

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